Nanopore Detection Aims Mainstream.

Traditional methods for detecting DNA segments include microarrays or PCR followed by quantification through electrophoresis or optics. These approaches are complex and costly. But thereu0027s a new avenue researchers are exploring: nanopore detection.In the same way that a flow cytometer picks up cells, a solid-state nanopore can detect individual segments of DNA that travel through it to provide thousands of measurements within minutes (1). Moreover, research has demonstrated the use of nanopores and peptides linked to nucleic acids for detection of double-stranded DNA, requiring precise and u003c5 nm pore diameters (2, 3).William Dunbar, cofounder and Chief Technology Officer of the nanopore detecting company, Two Pore Guys (TPG), says the field of nanopore research and commercialization is charging toward sequencing. Like their colleagues, Dunbar and his company began in that position. It wasnu0027t until the arrival of the first full time hire at TPG, Trevor Morin, a biochemist, that they saw another path.“Think of all the kids on the soccer field running to the same ball,” says Dunbar. “We went another direction.”So here we discuss what TPG—which promises “a digital, handheld, testing platform thatu0027s as accurate as medical laboratory equipment, but is as inexpensive and easy to use as a blood glucose monitor”—brings to the …