Illumina deal highlights hunt for sub-$1,000 sequencing

The Wall Street Journal analyzes the thinking behind Illumina's deal to acquire a stake in the UK's Oxford Nanopore Technologies. Oxford Nanopore has been developing new sequencing technology that may help Illumina become more competitive in the race to map an individual's DNA for less than $1,000.

The U.K. company's technology pushes DNA through a minuscule hole in a silicon chip, interrupting an electric current that is passing through the chip. By gauging the breaks in electricity the technology can identify the DNA, offering a DNA readout that can be transformed into a map. Current technology relies on a fluorescent dye to identify DNA.

Illumina is betting $18 million that Oxford Nanopore is onto something--even though the company has yet to sequence an entire genome. "Oxford Nanopore's technology holds tremendous promise to achieve the sub-$1,000 human genome," Illumina CEO Jay Flatley said. Not too long ago, the bill was in the millions.

- here's the release
- check out the report in the Wall Street Journal

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