Laboratory product can 'read the sequence of a single DNA molecule'

Researchers have devised new laboratory products that can read the sequence of a single DNA molecule.

The nanoscale sensor can electronically read the single DNA sequence, which could lead to affordable personalized medicine, potentially revealing predispositions for afflictions such as cancer, diabetes or addiction.

Jens Gundlach, a University of Washington physics professor who leads the research team said: "There is a clear path to a workable, easily produced sequencing platform.

We augmented a protein nanopore we developed for this purpose with a molecular motor that moves a DNA strand through the pore a nucleotide at a time."

The nanopore has an opening one billionth of a meter in size, which allows only one DNA strand to pass through. The technology has been successfully tested, and could additionally be used to identify how DNA is modified in an individual.

The programme has managed to significantly reduce the cost of such sequencing, which was expected to be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars when the program first started out. However, new developments mean this could go down to a ten dollar or fifteen minute genome project.