| Solid state nanopores: still in research: https://nanoporetech.com/how-it-works/types-of-nanopores I'm pretty sure they will come out with it. The protein nanopores were the first wave of nanopore research - its tried tested and stable now so they stick with it. A few years after they launched, the first solid state nanopores were being demonstrated in the lab. Commercialising solid state nanopores seems to be easier if anything than protein nanopores because they slot right into silicon fabrication. On PCR/barcoding ..
Yeah, thats right - do it right in the PCR step .. sometimes we avoid it, if we are not yet sure about the protocol. I think what I meant to say is that the full promise of nanopore sequencing for me is achieved only when you can skip having to amplify/multiplex/barcode - just extract dna, wash, add sequencing adaptors and go - for almost anything. I think the way they are talked about people generally come in expecting that TODAY .. they think they can literally stick a single sample with no prep and get 1gb of sequencing done for 10$ in an hour. I've seen quite a lot of that. (even from people with PhD's :) ) So yeah its more that the minute you go PCR, you're in for a minimum 20$ per sample, often its the highest cost line item in your whole process. If you're doing things like 16S metagenomics, you get sequencing at 2-3$ and prep at 10 times that, starts to feel "wrong" after a while, if you get what I mean. Why're trying everything we can to make sure we're running at full capacity so that we can always give low prices even if its single samples. Also seeing if we can reduce prep cost with microfluidics/mems - they have voltrax for this, but there are a few other vendors in the market. That has the positive knock-on effect of also reducing labour cost. |