Oxford Nanopore announces groundbreaking GridION and MinION gene sequencers

(PhysOrg.com) -- Oxford University spinoff company, Oxford Nonopore has announced at this year's Advances in Genome Biology and Technology conference in Florida, two new machines for sequencing genes. Of particular note is the MinION, a machine small enough to fit in the hand which can be plugged into a laptop's USB port. The other, the GridION, is a larger version that can be stacked to increase processing power. Both rely on a technology known as strand sequencing whereby a nanopore (engineered protein) is used to pull strands of DNA through a hole where a microchip measures minute changes in the electrical current in the membrane around it as individual bases, or pairs are pulled through. Because of the way it is done, much longer sections of DNA can be examined at once, doing away with the need to examine small sections independently and then knitting the results together with a computer afterwards.

Sequencing of genes is a process where the chemical order of DNA units (T, C, G and A) are determined. Doing so helps researchers and doctors determine inherited traits in plants and animals. It is an area of science that has been in the news of late as it is a hotbed of excitement for investors. This announcement by Oxford Nonopore comes as rather a shock to the established players in the field, American companies, Illumina and Life Technologies.

In addition to their small size, the new devices are able to perform sequencing faster than previous machines. Representatives of Oxford Nonopore say if 20 units (adding up to roughly $5000) are connected together the GridION can sequence an entire human genome in just fifteen minutes. In comparison, Life Technologies' latest product, the Ion Proton Sequencer, at a price of almost $150,000, takes twenty four hours...

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