An ambitious unicorn hopes to up-end DNA analysis
The technology pulls genetic material through holes in proteins
GENETICISTS LIKE to compare progress in their field with the breakneck speed of innovation in computing. There, large, slow mainframes developed into fast, midsized desktops and then into the pocket-sized supercomputers known as smartphones. Similarly, the sequencing of the first human genome was announced, amid great pomp and fanfare, in 2003. It had taken 13 years and cost around $3bn. Two decades on, sequencing a human genome will set you back around $600, and might be done within a week.
This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “A hole in one?”
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