If you're feeling a bit low on funds to keep your lab running, try taking David Ng's approach. He was looking into whether a layman could set up a molecular biology lab -- and it appears to be fairly straightforward, if you use eBay: a microcentrifuge for $45.99, an agarose gel box for $99.99, or a PCR thermal cycler for $149.99. All in all, Ng finds it would take less than $1,000 to get much of the basic equipment needed.