Transplanting a Seattleite

As jkonrath said, yes, the design could be patented, and if the biologist is at a sufficiently small institution that doesn't have the negotiating power to bring the vendor down closer to cost, the comb could cost as much as $150. (I'm assuming it's a comb for agarose- or polyacrylamide-gel DNA electrophoresis, I can't read the article behind the login-screen.)

Also, consider that the money on the milling equipment a sunk cost--it was all validated for other projects, presumably quite some time ago, and if it's just sitting around, then the machinery isn't providing a return on the investment.