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Wild MinIon DNA Sequencer Needs a USB Port for Power


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DNA sequencing sounds like something that needs a multimillion dollar machine and a major laboratory of a University or a government think tank lab. There might be some truth to that statement me, but later this year what may be the world’s smallest DNA sequencer is set to launch from a company called Oxford Nanopore.

MinIon DNA sequencer

The product will be called the MinIon and it will plug into a USB port on a computer. Using the sequencer and some sort of enzyme solution, prepared samples can be applied to the sequencer and sucked into the machine via a little hole. Once inside the sequencer the DNA base pairs are broken down and tested consecutively.

I have no idea exactly what the process of sequencing DNA involves, but it sounds very complicated. The little USB sequencer will sell for $900 and should launch sometime this year.

via EverythingUSB

Filed Under: USB Gadgets

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  • Mohsen

    Actually, DNA sequencing means finding out the sequence of base pairs (A, D, C, and G) that a DNA strand is made up of. Based on the name of the company (Oxford Nanopore) I guess that the sequencer uses the new method developed recently that uses nanopores (holes with diameters in the range of 1-100 nm) with different diameters to separate base pairs.