Can this USB stick change biology research? Photo: Oxford Nanopore

What if you could put a few bacterial cells into a USB stick, plug it into your laptop, and get back a complete DNA sequence in a matter of minutes?

Oxford Nanopore has built a USB device that will do just that. At least, thats what the company says. Known as MinION, the device received a hefty amount of press when it was announced in February, and its slated for release to the world at large in the second half of the year. But many are still skeptical that this tiny device will do what its designed to do.

If [the claims] are true, wed buy it tomorrow, Jonathan Eisen, a microbiology professor at the University of California at Davis. But Im reserving judgment. Weve heard many presentations from companies where these things dont pan out.

Clive Brown, Oxfords chief technology officer, tells Wired that the MinION works as advertised. You put a handful of lysed cells cells whose membranes have been dissolved into a small container built into the USB drive. You plug the drive into an ordinary PC. And depending on the length of the DNA in those cells, youll have a complete sequence in somewhere between a few minutes to a few hours. The device is the result of seven years of research, Brown says, and it sells for $900.

For Eisen, the cost alone would make the MinION a game changer. But its also attractive because its portable. Eisen says that with a device like the MinION, field researchers would have sequencing at their fingertips at all times, whether theyre on a remote mountain somewhere or out at sea looking at algae blooms. This really would be the democratization of sequencing, he says. Anyone in any research environment would consider doing large scale sequencing in their project.

But he still wants to see it action before he says any more.

In biological research, the order of DNAs four building blocks called base pairs is essential to understanding the underlying mechanisms of an organisms existence. Short for deoxyribonucleic acid, DNA along with a handful of supporting molecules dictates the protein structures and development of every creature on the planet. DNA length varies by organism ranging from the thousands of basepairs for bacteria to billions for mammals so tools that quickly read this molecular instruction manual are imperative for biological research.

Oxford aims for DNA sequencing in the wild. Image: Frank Kehren/Flickr

The market for DNA sequencing is a crowded one. Companies such as Illumina and Sequetech build large machines that sit alongside a lab bench, and Ion Torrent, a subsidiary of Life Technologies, will soon release a benchtop sequencer that it says will read the entire human genome roughly three billion base pairs in a day. But Oxford is the first to put this sort of device on an ordinary laptop.

Link:
Can You Really Sequence DNA With a USB Thumb Drive?