The use of nanopore technology aimed at more accurate and efficient DNA sequencing is the focus for grants recently awarded by NIH’s National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI. The eight grants totaling nearly $17 million were made through NHGRI’s Advanced DNA Sequencing Technology Awards for 2013.
“Nanopore technology shows great promise, but it is still a new area of science. We have much to learn about how nanopores can work effectively as a DNA sequencing technology which is why five of the program’s eight grants are exploring this approach,” said Jeffery.Schloss PhD Program Director for the Advanced DNA Sequencing Program.
Nanopore-based DNA sequencing involves threading single DNA strands through tiny pores. Individual based pairs are then read one at a time as they pass through the nanopore. “This technology offers many potential advantages over current DNA sequencing methods,” said Dr. Schloss.
The advantages of the new technology include being able to do real-time sequencing of single DNA molecules at a low cost and also the same molecule can be reassessed over and over again. Current systems involve isolating DNA and chemically labeling and copying it. To do this, DNA has to be broken up and then small segments are sequenced many times. Only the first step of isolating the DNA would be necessary with nanopore technology.
One of the grants for $5.25 million was as awarded by NHGRI to a Columbia University research team through the School of Engineering and Applied Science. The team includes researchers from Columbia University’s collaborative institutions including Harvard University, Genia Technologies Inc., and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
According to the team leader Professor Jingyue Ju, “The collaborative team is in the process of developing a novel integrated miniaturized system for real time single molecule electronic DNA sequencing. The hope is that this electronic DNA sequencing approach will eventually enable the entire human genome to be deciphered for about $100. The enhanced accuracy, scalability, and flexibility of this technology will make it an ideal platform for personalized medicine and basic biomedical research.”
Other NHGRI grantees include University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign ($2.47 million), University of New Mexico Health Science Center ($1.35 million), University of Washington ($3.83 million), Eve Biomedical, Inc., ($493,000), University of Massachusetts ($1.07 million), University of North Carolina ($2.05 million), and Electronic Biosciences, Inc., ($239,000).
For more information, go to www.genome.gov.