A DNA sequencer the size of a cell phone could change where, and how, gene research occurs. <\/p>\n
The DNA sequencer built by Oxford Nanopore draws power from a computers USB port. <\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
David Deamer made this sketch in 1989 when the idea for nanopore sequencing came to him. <\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
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