A Genome Sequencer the Size of a Grapefruit
GenomeWeb Daily News announced today that:The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation made the award to the researcher, who will share a portion of it with the firm, to develop a portable device to identify samples of animals and plants in the field by sequencing short stretches of DNA, so-called DNA barcodes. But the instrument, which will be the size of a grapefruit and cost less then $25,000, might have wider applications, including those in biodefense and forensics, according to its inventors.Anyone want to bet on how long it will be before a Treo, Blackberry or Palm can do DNA sequencing?"A lot of funding is going into DNA sequencing but none of it seems likely to lead to a portable DNA barcode reader," said a spokesman for the Moore Foundation, which plans to announce the award in a few weeks on its website.
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GATTACA happens.
- by Karama Neal on May 16, 2006 at 1:22 PM | link
Better, faster, cheaper. Sounds like a plan. The more genome sequenced, the more data to mine. Exciting.
- by danratherfan on May 17, 2006 at 1:27 AM | link
I actually sequence DNA for a living. I am not sure how easy or reliable a hand held sequencer would be, especially out in the field. If it does come to be, I guess I'll be out of a job!
- by Rebecca Taylor on May 17, 2006 at 1:57 AM | link