MIT Technology Review Subscribe

Cheap Gene Sequencer

If genome sequencing gets cheap enough, it could usher in the age of personalized medicine, in which treatments and preventive measures are tailored to an individual’s genetic makeup. A step in that direction is the Polonator, a new sequencer that will cost roughly a third to a ninth as much as existing technologies. Developed by genomics pioneer George Church, the Polonator tags DNA bases with fluorescent markers and uses a fluorescence microscope to read off the sequences. Coming to market later this year, the Polonator will initially be used for genomic research.

Product: Polonator G.007
Cost: $155,000
Source: www.polonator.org
Companies: Dover Motion Systems

Advertisement
This story is only available to subscribers.

Don’t settle for half the story.
Get paywall-free access to technology news for the here and now.

Subscribe now Already a subscriber? Sign in
You’ve read all your free stories.

MIT Technology Review provides an intelligent and independent filter for the flood of information about technology.

Subscribe now Already a subscriber? Sign in
This is your last free story.
Sign in Subscribe now

Your daily newsletter about what’s up in emerging technology from MIT Technology Review.

Please, enter a valid email.
Privacy Policy
Submitting...
There was an error submitting the request.
Thanks for signing up!

Our most popular stories

Advertisement