system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
How common is it to take your lab stuff with you when you move to set up a new lab at a new institute?

Antibodies, surgical instruments, pippetes etc....things you bought with your own personal grant. If you are moving to a new institute to take up a PI role, it seems pretty common to take your things with you but it feels like one of those things that's in a very grey area that people do without actually asking permission. I've even see people take a 20k+ piece of equipment from their old lab to their new institute.
gpt
It is entirely dependent on the funding mechanism used to buy the equipment and university rules. For the most part equipment/materials purchased through granting agencies such as NSF/NIH/NASA are the property of the University not the PI/Lab. Some private granting foundations can be more flexible, especially with smaller grants.

Universities will also have there own policies and sometimes there is a value threshold above which certain inventory rules come into effect. PIs can sometimes negotiate to bring equipment with them when they move, but again this is all entirely dependent on agency/university rules.