Got $50,000? You should buy Yourself a non-public DNA Sequencing Machine [Video]

DNA sequencing technology isn’t exactly accessible; a regular sequencing machine can easily cost $500,000. A startup called Ion Torrent aims to modify that with a desktop sequencing machine for just $50,000.

The key to Ion Torrent’s Personal Genome Machine is a semiconductor chip that holds 1.5 million sensors, each of which may hold a single strand DNA fragment. The chip electronically detects the DNA sequence, unlike other sequencing machines that optically detect DNA with pricey lasers, microscopes, and cameras. It should sequence a DNA sample in a couple of hours, while other machines can take not less than per week. And it could actually scale up fast. The company explains :

Because Ion Torrent produces its proprietary semiconductor chips in standard CMOS factories, we leverage the $1 trillion dollar investment that has been made within the semiconductor industry over the last 40 years. This industry’s huge manufacturing infrastructure enables Ion Torrent to fulfill any demand for our chips.

There are some caveats. Each $250 chip can only be used once. The chip also reads a small amount of DNA; 10 to 20 million bases per run, out of the 3 billion base pairs within the human genome. But that’s enough for genetic diagnostic tests, in line with Technology Review .

Ion Torrent’s machine goes on sale this month. Soon enough, these semiconductor sequencing chips may start doping up in cash-endowed hospitals world wide. Could consumer DNA sequencing machines be far behind?

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This post is tagged: commercial source, diagnostic tests, dollar investment, semiconductor chip, semiconductor chips, semiconductor industry