2014/11/26

ASUNews Novenber 24,2014: Fast, low-cost DNA sequencing technology one step closer to reality

A team of scientists from Arizona State University’s Biodesign Institute and IBM’s T.J. Watson Research Center have developed a prototype DNA reader that could make whole genome profiling an everyday practice in medicine.

"Our goal is to put cheap, simple and powerful DNA and protein diagnostic devices into every single doctor's office," said Stuart Lindsay, an ASU physics professor and director of Biodesign’s Center for Single Molecule Biophysics.

Such technology could help usher in the age of personalized medicine, where information from an individual’s complete DNA and protein profiles could be used to design treatments specific to their individual makeup.

Using tools where biology and physics expertise meet the manufacturing know-how of the semiconductor industry, the team, led by ASU’s Stuart Lindsay and IBM’s Yann Astier, has been developing a device which could make reading an individual’s whole DNA profile, or genome, as easy as passing supermarket goods through a checkout scanner. The first step in doing this is to make a “reading head” that identified single DNA bases as they pass it.

If successful, Lindsay hopes to turn the science of the infinitesimally small (called nanotechnology) into successful products. The ASU group is collaborating with Roche on DNA sequencing while an ASU spinout (Recognition Analytix) hopes to develop a way to sequence single protein molecules. more