DNA sequencing is becoming both faster and cheaper and now portable.
Oxford Nanopore Technologies said on Friday that by the end of 2012 it would begin selling a “pay-as-you-go” disposable gene sequencing device that is the size of a USB memory stick and plugs into a laptop computer to deliver its results.
The less-than-$900 MinION device could allow small sequencing jobs to be done by researchers who cannot afford $50,000 to $750,000 sequencing machines.
It might also help doctors sequence genes at a patient’s bedside, wildlife biologists to study genes in the field, or food inspectors to identify pathogens.
A minaturized version of the company’s larger GridION device, the MinION uses pores made from bacterial proteins. An electric current flows through the pore. The DNA bases interrupt the current in different ways as they go through.According to the company:
"The exquisite science behind nanopore sensing has taken nearly two decades to reach this point; a truly disruptive single molecule analysis technique, designed alongside new electronics to be a universal sequencing system. GridION and MinION are poised to deliver a completely new range of benefits to researchers and clinicians," said Dr Gordon Sanghera, CEO of Oxford Nanopore. "Oxford Nanopore is as much an electronics company as a biotechnology company, and the development of a high-throughput electronics platform has been essential for us to design and screen a large number of new candidate nanopores and enzymes. Our toolbox is customer-ready and we will continue to develop improved nanopore devices over many years, including ongoing work in solid state devices."
Nanopore DNA sequencing from Oxford Nanopore on Vimeo.
Oxford, which is privately held and based on technology developed by a professor at Oxford University, uses pores made from bacterial proteins. An electric current flows through the pore. The bases interrupt the current in different ways as they go through.
The initial GridIon machines will have 2,000 pores. A machine due in 2013 will have 8,000 pores.
One big advantage of the nanopore sequencing, Dr. Mardis of Washington University said, is that preparing the sample is quick and easy. The technology also offers the promise of being able to read tens of thousands of bases in a stretch. Most sequencers read from around 30 to a few thousand bases at a stretch, and these small fragments then have to be pieced together.
A drawback is that the Oxford machine has a 4 percent error rate, too high for many applications, including diagnosis.
This may present an opportunity for other companies racing to release sub-$1000 sequencers. Ion Torrent, one such company announced last month that it was developing a machine to sequence a human genome in 15 minutes fro the cost of around $1500.
Jonathan M. Rothberg, chief executive of Life Technologies, Ion Torrent, said Friday that, "We're not losing sleep. But they definitely have the Twitter airwaves today.”
The initial GridIon machines will have 2,000 pores. A machine due in 2013 will have 8,000 pores.
One big advantage of the nanopore sequencing, Dr. Mardis of Washington University said, is that preparing the sample is quick and easy. The technology also offers the promise of being able to read tens of thousands of bases in a stretch. Most sequencers read from around 30 to a few thousand bases at a stretch, and these small fragments then have to be pieced together.
A drawback is that the Oxford machine has a 4 percent error rate, too high for many applications, including diagnosis.
This may present an opportunity for other companies racing to release sub-$1000 sequencers. Ion Torrent, one such company announced last month that it was developing a machine to sequence a human genome in 15 minutes fro the cost of around $1500.
Jonathan M. Rothberg, chief executive of Life Technologies, Ion Torrent, said Friday that, "We're not losing sleep. But they definitely have the Twitter airwaves today.”
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