A USB-sized DNA sequencer undergoes beta testing, preparing for real-world application

✎ CJ Magowan | 🕑 09.19.2014

Biophysicist David Deamer envision one day in the year 1989 a device that make use of a microscopic pore that test DNA sequence. That vision wasn’t realized 25 years later when when Deamer teamed-up with Oxford Nanophore – a UK based company that together developed the technology in a pocket-size USB powered device.

In 2012, Oxford Nanophore announced the MinION, a DNA sequencing device that made its way out in the research lab and will turn into a commercially available DNA sequencing device in the near future. Though it promised a new way to test DNA rapidly, Oxford Nanophere the company behind the project was silent about its progress which have led into thinking from the industry that the product is a vaporware.

But recently, Oxford Nanophore is sending out a demo device to selected partners and laboratory with concerns in the field to beta test the device. Upon testing, researchers and scientists found inaccuracies of test results that the machine generates and yields only from 60 to 85 per cent accuracy when compared with full-sized DNA sequencing machines that outputs 99.9 per cent accuracy most of the time.

The machine determines the chain of genetic letters: A, G, C and T in a DNA structure through a tiny pore suspended in a membrane. Changes in Electrical currents with then be read-out. The device is powered by USB which is significantly different from a full-blown DNA analyzer that can be as large as a refrigerator. This will revolutionized the testing of DNA in crucial situations where rapid testing is required.

David Daemer still can’t predict a leap in accuracy of the test device but promised a continuous research to refine and fine tune the technology. With partners working together and with a substantial budget for the research, We’ll be able to use this portable DNA sequencer in the near future. But at this time, there’s still no word for a wide release or how much it’s going to sell when available but some paid $1000 to acquire the test device and that’s a huge difference in the cost of acquiring such analyzer as compared to other manufacturers DNA sequencing machine which could cost a million.