Nanopore Chip

IBM may have pioneered nanopore technology, but other companies have advanced the field or found alternatives to faster DNA sequencing.  One firm, Noblegen Biosciences (Concord, MA) has a prototype chip that could be scaled up to 400 by 400 nanopores which could sequence 500 gigabases an hour-or one genome in about 15 minutes.  At present, Ion Torrent, Illumina, Inc., and Pacific Biosciences are leading the sequencing pack, but competition is obviously at work, and a quick, accurate and affordable genome sequence seems a near reality.  MORE

Image Credit:  Technology Review