12/20/2010 PERMALINK
New technique promises to sequence your entire genome in just minutes for just a few dollars. : Scientists from Imperial College London have patented a prototype from research that promises to sequence your entire genome in a single lab procedure, instead of the highly complex and time-consuming process used today. Fast and inexpensive genome sequencing could allow ordinary people to unlock the secrets of their own DNA, revealing their personal susceptibility to diseases and the negative effects of aging. Medical professionals are already using genome sequencing to understand population-wide health issues and research ways to tailor personalized treatments or preventions. 'Compared with current technology,' said Dr Joshua Edel from the Department of Chemistry at Imperial College London. 'This device could lead to much cheaper sequencing: just a few dollars, compared with $1m to sequence an entire genome in 2007. We haven't tried it on a whole genome yet but our initial experiments suggest that you could theoretically do a complete scan of the 3,165 million bases in the human genome within minutes.' The researchers demonstrated that it is possible to propel a DNA strand at high speed through a tiny 50 nanometer (nm) hole - or nanopore - cut in a silicon chip, using an electrical charge. As the strand emerges from the back of the chip, its coding sequence (bases A, C, T or G) is read by a tunneling electrode junction. This 2 nm gap between two wires supports an electrical current that interacts with the distinct electrical signal from each base code. A powerful computer can then interpret the base code's signal to construct the genome sequence, making it possible to combine all these well-documented techniques for the first time.