Commercial, USB-Powered DNA Sequencer Coming This Year

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Commercial, USB-Powered DNA Sequencer Coming This Year

Posted by Soulskill on Monday February 20, 2012 @09:17AM from the we've-come-a-long-way-from-the-human-genome-project dept.

Zothecula writes "Oxford Nanopore has been developing a disruptive nanopore-based technology for sequencing DNA, RNA, proteins, and other long-chain molecules since its birth in 2005. The company has just announced that within the next 6-9 months it will bring to market a fast, portable, and disposable protein sequencer that will democratize sequencing by eliminating large capital costs associated with equipment required to enter the field."

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Oh goodie!! by NoNonAlphaCharsHere · 2012-02-20 09:19 · Score: 5, Funny

So when can we expect to see one in every police cruiser, insurance office and personnel department?
1. Re:Oh goodie!! by MightyMartian · 2012-02-20 09:48 · Score: 2
  
  Darth Vader: Obi-wan never told you what happened to your father.
  Luke: He told me enough. He told me you betrayed and called him!
  Darth Vader: No Luke. I AM YOUR FATHER!!!
  Luke: Yeah, um, okay. Just hold on, I'm gonna get my notebook here and DNA sequencer. Crap! Forgot the cable. Listen, you're a cyborg, you wouldn't happen to have a USB-A cable on you, would you? Oh yeah, and I think you've got one actual arm left, so could you take the glove off and give me a blood sample?
  
  --
  The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Yes, goodie by Theaetetus · 2012-02-20 09:20 · Score: 5, Insightful

So when can we expect to see one in every police cruiser, insurance office and personnel department?
More importantly, we can expect to see one in every doctor's office and hospital, allowing inexpensive personalized medicine.
1. Re:Yes, goodie by Theaetetus · 2012-02-20 09:30 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  It wouldn't be just one. They aren't reusable, so it's going to cost $900 per sequencing operation - apparently, you have to throw away the whole device afterwards.
  It currently costs around $30,000 per sequencing operation. So I'm okay with this first-generation model only reducing the price by more than 300:1.
2. Re:Yes, goodie by SomePgmr · 2012-02-20 09:32 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  And even with this device, the article says:
  
  During interviews just proceeding the product announcement at AGBT 2012, Clive Brown, the Chief Technology Officer of Oxford Nanopores, revealed that the expected $900 price tag for the MinION has a good bit of margin built in. We can thus expect prices to fall quickly as production becomes routine in its challenges.
3. Re:Yes, goodie by Anonymous Coward · 2012-02-20 09:33 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  Still cheaper than a Mac. (ducks)
4. Re:Yes, goodie by Anonymous Coward · 2012-02-20 09:44 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  And with a 4% error rate, it is still more accurate than the official calculator program that Apple ships with OS X.
5. Re:Yes, goodie by Rutulian · 2012-02-20 17:56 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  Errr...that's $30k per genome (human-sized), not per sequencing operation. The device advertised does not do genomes.
High error rate by Guppy · 2012-02-20 09:30 · Score: 3, Interesting

The technology has a 4% error rate, meaning that 4% of the bases are read incorrectly
Needs to drop an order of magnitude to be competitive, unless it's much cheaper than expected.
1. Re:High error rate by Anonymous Coward · 2012-02-20 10:01 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  I don't think you understand how DNA sequencing works.
2. Re:High error rate by the+gnat · 2012-02-20 10:02 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  All of the "next-generation" sequencing technology has a relatively high error rate compared to traditional Sanger sequencing (used on the original human genome sequences, and still the gold standard for truly novel genomes). The massive redundancy typically compensates for this, although some technology is clearly pretty marginal no matter how much data you have. If my memory is accurate, the Human Genome Project was collecting somewhere between 6x and 10x redundant data; projects using the newer tech shoot for more like 30x.
  What I don't get is what this device is intended to be useful for if it's only able to sequence 150 million b.p. before wearing out. The article mentions that this is smaller than some human chromosomes, but unless they factored the necessary redundancy into that figure, it's not going to go very far. It'll be enough to sequence most bacterial genomes, and probably enough to sequence human cellular RNA transcripts, or something else targeted, but I just can't see it being useful for whole-genome analysis of the sort that tries to answer deep questions like "am I likely to get Alzheimers in twenty years?"
Get one for just $100! * by jeffb+(2.718) · 2012-02-20 09:32 · Score: 4, Funny

<reallysmallprint> * special discount rate available when results are analyzed and stored by AllYourGenome.com. Terms and conditions apply. Please read our privacy and data-marketing agreement before clicking "Submit".</reallysmallprint>
Brr. by jeffb+(2.718) · 2012-02-20 09:59 · Score: 2

"We're ready to have another kid, and we've almost finished the mixtape."
Re:I'm going to sequence all my neighbors! by richardkelleher · 2012-02-20 11:50 · Score: 4, Interesting

Isn't this just another step closer to the world of Blade Runner? Soon Make! will have articles on home gene splicing and growing organs with your Arduino controlled Tissue Growth Chamber.