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Rick Byers Lab

@lab.rbyers.ca
39 followers 12 following 50 posts

I am a citizen scientist and a molecular biology enthusiast. lab.rbyers.ca

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Rick Byers Lab @lab.rbyers.ca · 09/08/2026
Yup, here's my freezer. But I have not invested in the -80°C deep freezer necessary for stable long-term storage of RNA. But bacteria all have DNA genomes so stable for years at -20°C. I just started throwing out old samples for space, but only "boring" ones.
A small freezer filled with 20 boxes of tubes
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Rick Byers Lab @lab.rbyers.ca · 09/08/2026
Four years ago I missed my favourite conference ("BlinkOn") for a bad cold. It's been the biggest frustration of my lab that I couldn't find the virus that caused it. Now, that I have a 32-way panel from YouSeq.com I finally know why: It was a bacteria, H.Influenzea, not a virus at all!
The 32 targets in the YouSeq respiratory pathogen panel I ran against my 4 year old sample: C. Pneum, Mp. Pneum, L. Pneum, RNaseP, Adeno, M.Catar, P.aerug, EVD68, HPIV1, HPIV2, HPIV3, HPIV4, HRV, HCovOC43, HCoVHKU1, HCoVNL63, HBoV, HCov229E, Haem.Flu, HMPV, FluA, FluB, Covid19, RSV, K.pneum, S.pyoge, S.aurus, C.albic, S.pneum, B.pertu, A.bauma, B.parapThe positive results from the run:
Haem.Flu Cq=27.5
RNaseP (Endo ctrl) Cq=29.1
S.pneum (a common consensual bacteria) Cq=34.6PCR amplification curves for the run. H.influenzae in orange, RNaseP positive control in red and S.pneumn(a common bacteria not necessarily pathogenic) in green.
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Rick Byers Lab @lab.rbyers.ca · 02/08/2026
Instead of spending $2,000 for windows-only software for my new (used) Bio-Rad C1000/CFX96 thermocycler, I have spent the last couple weeks with Claude reverse engineering formats and protocols and building a web app! Check it out: zpcr.rbyers.ca. I'm learning SO much about how qPCR works this way!
Curves view showing PCR amplification plots along with a 96-well grid colored by sample type (green positive control, red no-template control, blue unknown sample) with plus signs for positive results. Also includes a list of respiratory virus targets. Results indicate a strong SARS-CoV-2 positive sample and some weak Enterovius and human B2M control results contaminating the no-template controls.Instrument view showing status for a device attached by USB and prepared to start a new run with a standard thermocycling protocol and a simple two column plate layout corresponding to the results from the last screenshot.A calibration view visualizing the TaqMan fluorophore response by temperature for two fluorophores (FAM and Cy5) using two different types of wells (clear vs. white walled).
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Rick Byers Lab @lab.rbyers.ca · 21/07/2026
Instead (or at least ahead) of spending $2,000 on the CFX Manager software BioRad sells, I had Claude reverse engineer the proprietary results file format and generate a script for converting the amplification curves to CSV format in less than 15 minutes! That's good enough for day 1.
PCR amplification curves from 4 wells and 1 channel showing nice s-curves in 3 of them and a flat line in the 4th.
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Rick Byers Lab @lab.rbyers.ca · 21/07/2026
I finally bought a serious lab qPCR machine: Bio-Rad CFX96 Touch (96 well, 5 channels), compared to my Biomeme Franklin (9 well, 3 channels). Already I can tell I'll be able to do so much more with it!
Home lab bench showing a Bio-Rad CFX96 and other equipment.
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Rick Byers Lab @lab.rbyers.ca · 18/05/2026
I'm working on a blog post for low-cost DIY SARS-CoV-2 PCR testing using a cheap miniPCR and manual fluorescence visualization. Is this visualization of positives vs. negatives clear enough?
7 PCR tubes in the p51lab.info fluorescence viewer. The first four look yellow, the last three look orange.
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Rick Byers Lab @lab.rbyers.ca · 19/04/2026
Also my non-frost-free is working as intended though I'm clearly due for a manual defrost 😀. I think moist air leaks through the seal where I run a temperature probe, I really need to drill and seal a hole like I have for my mini-fridge.
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Rick Byers Lab @lab.rbyers.ca · 19/04/2026
Now looks like this (including a couple additional items I forgot yesterday).
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Rick Byers Lab @lab.rbyers.ca · 19/04/2026
I was asked today: if I was just getting started in molecular biology and and wanted a simple low-cost PCR lab for COVID testing, what would I buy? Here is my shopping list for a basic endpoint qPCR setup: docs.google.com/spreadsheets... Disclaimer: be safe and follow local laws
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Rick Byers Lab @lab.rbyers.ca · 29/03/2026
Three RSV RATs I did at the same time: 1. A shallow (but thorough) nasal swab, fully negative 2/3. Deep mid-turbinate nasal swabs, clearly positive. I'm surprised by the difference. In my PCR tests of other viruses I've seen very little difference from swab depth.
A rapid antigen test with Adeno, RSV and FLU A+B lanes, all three negative.A rapid antigen test with Adeno, RSV and FLU A+B lanes, RSV is positive, Adeno and FLU A+B not run,A rapid antigen test with Adeno, RSV and FLU A+B lanes, RSV positive, Adeno and FLU A+B negative.
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Rick Byers Lab @lab.rbyers.ca · 24/03/2026
Did another Europe cruise with my family, came home harbouring another new virus for my collection. That's three for three: Dec 2023 in the Caribbean: Influenza A July 2024 on the Danube: Parainfluenza 3 Mar 2026 on the Rhine: Respiratory syncytial virus A Perhaps I should be learning something?
Table showing all respiratory viruses I've found in myself since starting my lab.
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Rick Byers Lab @lab.rbyers.ca · 23/03/2026
This was my first time analyzing Illumina sequence, it was fun learning about the short paired-end reads and getting Gemini to whip up an analysis notebook for me: github.com/RByers/Respi...
Charts of coverage depth for my 3 new samplesCharts of base read quality for my three new samples. First a histogram of all qualities then a plot of quality by read position. R1 and R2 reads are plotted separately.View of the IGV application showing sequencing reads for my three samples, aligned to the SARS-CoV-2 genome.
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Rick Byers Lab @lab.rbyers.ca · 23/03/2026
I sequenced my remaining 3 SARS-CoV-2 samples: - Feb 2025 I had JN.1.4.3.1 - Aug 2025 my son had PQ.24 - Feb 2026 my daughter had PQ.2.8.1 I now have 7 SARS-CoV-2 sequences from my family, nextclade puts them on the phylogenetic tree this way:
Nextclade phylogenetic chart of SARS-CoV-2 viruses from nextstrain.org, my 7 sequences are highlighted with their Pango lineage designation.
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Rick Byers Lab @lab.rbyers.ca · 19/03/2026
Nice! I can relate. I got so worked up by my toddler's colds that I eventually taught myself molecular virology and built a lab in my basement 🙂 docs.google.com/presentation...
Image of a slide with speaker notes saying: "This is me and my son Oliver when he was about 1
One night he had a cold. His breathing sounded a little rough so we took him to the Doctor.
The doctor checked his O2 and called 911!
He was whisked away to the hospital in an ambulance where he was hooked up to a ventilator!
Oliver had asthma induced by colds and allergies.
The advice from his doctor was to avoid exposing him to sick people."
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Rick Byers Lab @lab.rbyers.ca · 17/03/2026
Though even here viruses get short changed a bit 🙂
A tree of life dominated by microbes with with viruses as a tiny island on the side.
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Rick Byers Lab @lab.rbyers.ca · 17/03/2026
Finally a Zoo which does the full tree of life some justice! Micropia at ARTIS Zoo Amsterdam: www.artis.nl/nl/artis-mic...
Me with a wall of bacteriaMe with a model of an adenovirus Hamburger covered in bacteria
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Rick Byers Lab @lab.rbyers.ca · 21/02/2026
Oh and her PCR test is one of the highest viral loads I've ever seen, 8x higher than any other SARS-CoV-2 I've sampled!
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Rick Byers Lab @lab.rbyers.ca · 21/02/2026
My teenage daughter just tested positive for COVID. I'm taking care of her this weekend. It's been two years since I've had COVID and 4 months since my last booster. Will I be able to keep from getting infected?
Positive panbio covid-19 antigen test
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Rick Byers Lab @lab.rbyers.ca · 16/02/2026
Also turns out I probably had a zinc deficiency leading to low testosterone. After years of working with my doctor to troubleshoot fatigue, I think I may have found and fixed at least part of the issue myself thanks to SiPhox.
Graph of testosterone levels starting medium low in 2022, several points medium low in 2025 then a few very low in late 2025 and early 2026. The  two points at the bottom of the good range, the fist labeled "start Zinc".
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Rick Byers Lab @lab.rbyers.ca · 04/02/2026
Oh oh 😬. My Google News feed thought this was a story I'd be interested in... abcnews.go.com/US/fbi-inves.... Would I get the same press coverage if police searched my house and found this? At least they'd find nothing labeled HIV or Ebola in my freezer!
Photo of lab freezer with 20 tube boxes with labels like "Samples 4" and "Probe assays".
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Rick Byers Lab @lab.rbyers.ca · 02/02/2026
Wow, I am constantly impressed by Google Antigravity and Gemini 3.5 pro. I used it to build a whole blog website, including totally custom Tweet archive, in just a few hours of work! Eg. see lab.rbyers.ca/posts/2024. Code at github.com/Rbyers/lab-b....
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