A more in-depth description on the new way to sequence DNA.
The brilliant minds at Harvard tell us that they use graphene to help sequence.
Scientists drill a nanopore into a graphene membrane, then pass a strand of DNA through it. When the DNA is passed through it, and measure the exchange of ions. Why graphene? It also conducts electricity. The exchange of ions affects the graphene's electrical conductivity. The conductivity is then measured and the change in conductivity would tell us the chemical.
Still, the problem remains that the speed that the DNA is passed through the nanopore. Once this is controlled, DNA will be cheap and easy.
http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2010/09/graphene-may-hold-key-to-speeding-up-dna-sequencing/
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Monday, October 18, 2010
Soon Gene Sequencing Will be Fast and Cheap.
Kind of like your local fast food restaurant.
No, just kidding.
Aleksei Aksimentiev, a computational physicist, has developed a new concept that will revolutionize DNA sequencing and everything that has to do with DNA. Which, by the way, is everything. His method requires a strand of DNA be driven through an electrical field, and the change in the current will read the DNA sequence. This will drive down the cost of DNA sequencing to about $1000. Not bad, considering that the first time DNA was sequenced, it took 13 years and $3 billion. Not bad at all.
This project should be completed by 2013.
So what does this mean?
This means that in 2-3 years, your average Joe could find out all about his genes, the diseases he's likely to get, and what types of conditions his kids might have. Chemists could develop personalized medicine. The whole medicine field could become personalized.
http://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=117318&org=NSF
No, just kidding.
Aleksei Aksimentiev, a computational physicist, has developed a new concept that will revolutionize DNA sequencing and everything that has to do with DNA. Which, by the way, is everything. His method requires a strand of DNA be driven through an electrical field, and the change in the current will read the DNA sequence. This will drive down the cost of DNA sequencing to about $1000. Not bad, considering that the first time DNA was sequenced, it took 13 years and $3 billion. Not bad at all.
This project should be completed by 2013.
So what does this mean?
This means that in 2-3 years, your average Joe could find out all about his genes, the diseases he's likely to get, and what types of conditions his kids might have. Chemists could develop personalized medicine. The whole medicine field could become personalized.
http://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=117318&org=NSF
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