Radical New DNA Sequencer Finally Gets into Researchers Hands

A DNA sequencer the size of a cell phone could change where, and how, gene research occurs.

The DNA sequencer built by Oxford Nanopore draws power from a computers USB port.

One day in 1989, biophysicist David Deamer pulled his car off Californias Interstate 5 to hurriedly scribble down an idea. In a mental flash, he had pictured a strand of DNA threading its way through a microscopic pore. Grabbing a pen and a yellow pad, he sketched out a radical new way to study the molecule of life.

Twenty-five years later, the idea is now being commercialized as a gene sequencing machine thats no larger than a smartphone, and whose effects might eventually be similarly transformative.

Early versions of the instrument, called the MinION, have been reaching scientific labs over the past few months after long delays (see 10 Breakthrough Technologies 2012: Nanopore Sequencing). Its built by a U.K. company, Oxford Nanopore, that has raised $292 million and spent 10 years developing Deamers idea into a DNA sequencer unlike any other now available. It is four inches long and gets its power from a USB port on a computer. Unlike other commercial sequencing machines, which can be the size of a refrigerator and require jugs of pricey chemicals, this one measures DNA directly as the molecule is drawn through a tiny pore suspended in a membrane. Changes in electrical current are used to read off the chain of genetic letters, A, G, C, and T.

Scientists with early access to prototypes of the first commercial nanopore sequencer say its glitchy and error-prone but may still be the way scientists study DNA in the future. After testing it, Mick Watson, a bioinformatics researcher at the Roslin Institute, in Scotland, says nanopore sequencing is a disruptive technology that could, potentially, dominate the sequencing market for years to come.

Although researchers say the device is still desperately inaccurate, it can already carry out some unheard-of scientific feats. And then theres its size. A sequencer this small might one day let police read off a genome from a spot of blood at a crime scene, or permit doctors to pinpoint viruses in the midst of an epidemic. One scientist this month tweeted a picture of the sequencer on his dining room table, decoding DNA.

The MinION is the result of some very high-stakes R&D by Oxford, a 200-person company thats long has had its eye on the expanding market for high-speed DNA sequencers. Cracking that market wont be easy. About 90 percent of DNA data is produced on sequencing machines from a single company, Illumina of San Diego (see 50 Smartest Companies: Illumina). Its sequencers are so good that most of its competitors have ended up in Chapter 11 or retreated in ignominy.

David Deamer made this sketch in 1989 when the idea for nanopore sequencing came to him.

But now some big companies are betting that nanopores could be the technology to break Illuminas lucrative monopoly. Roche, which made a failed attempt to acquire Illumina in 2012, this year spent $125 million to buy Genia Technologies, a small nanopore company based in California, and invested in another, Stratos Genomics. Hitachi is also working on nanopore technology, as are startups like Electronic Biosciences.

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Radical New DNA Sequencer Finally Gets into Researchers Hands