A team of scientists from the Arizona State University Biodesign Institute and the IBM Watson Research Center has developed a prototype of a new device for high-speed nanopore DNA sequencing that can be used in the daily work of a doctor..

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Such technologies are especially relevant in the era of personalized medicine, when information about a patient's DNA and protein profile can be used to select an individual treatment for diseases..

These are technologies that completely change the rules of the game in medicine and pharmacy.. Genome sequencing becomes a reality in everyday clinical practice. A new achievement allows you to do this for only $ 1,000 - a fairly modest amount by the standards of American medicine..

In their latest study, scientists tested a microscopic DNA reader that is several thousand times smaller than the thickness of a human hair..

The device is sensitive enough to distinguish between each chemical base in the DNA (denoted by the letters A, T, C, G) as the molecule passes through the read head.

Scientists, using solutions with separate chemical bases, proved the correctness of their concept.. The device gave a clear signal when detecting DNA in solution, even at nanomolar concentrations. This is better than current DNA sequencing technologies, which are referred to as the so-called next generation..

The device for reading DNA, proposed by scientists, is a " The whole difficulty is that these layers can convert the chemical information of DNA into an electrical signal of the device..

Scientists have made this " For this, the technology of atomic layer deposition was applied.. A hole was made in the "

“The technology that we have developed may be just the first step towards building a single-molecule sequencing device, manufactured in a conventional way for computer chips.. Previous attempts to create tunnel junctions for DNA reading have been constructed differently.. It was then impossible to use conventional production methods,” Lindsay explains..

When a DNA molecule passes through the nanopore in the reader, an electrical peak occurs that is unique for each chemical base (A, T, C, G) in DNA.

Scientists have developed several modifications of the new technology, which differ mainly in the features of industrial production.. In addition, for more accurate operation of the device, calibration is still needed.. And the final step of the work should be to reduce the size of the nanopore so that only one DNA molecule can pass through it..

But in general, researchers are almost done developing a device that can reliably work for several hours on end, identifying the chemical bases of patients' DNA passing through a 2-nanometer hole..

The scientists also promise to modify the technology to read other single molecules, such as drug molecules.. This will greatly help pharmaceutical companies in the development of new drugs..

Latest achievement could take ASU into the world of big business. Lindsay is already talking about the creation of a new company, Recognition Analytix, which hopes to replicate the meteoric success of Molecular Imaging Corp, a high-tech company founded in 1993..

Work on the creation of a device for nanopore DNA sequencing was funded by the US National Institutes of Health and the pharmaceutical company Roche.

The results of the study were published in the journal ACS Nano..

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