4 ms·

They are a fun tool, great for doing molecular work in the field. The error rate is still very high compared to short reads, but if you know this and plan for i

They are a fun tool, great for doing molecular work in the field. The error rate is still very high compared to short reads, but if you know this and plan for it going in you should be fine. Flowcells last for one sample. The machine should last indefinitely. You can sometimes add more of the same DNA to a flowcell after one use to get a bit more out of it, but the quality degrades quickly. 500-1000 dollars each for flowcells, depending on how much you order. My experience in field use, I was using Oxford Nanopores software which does processing remotely and was able to run the the platform on just a regular 2015-era laptop.

nojokes 6y ago
Is the price a question of scale? If this technology would become commonplace, would the price go down? Are there patents that would prevent cheaper chemical production?
- hobofan 6y ago
  I assume scale and more R&D on how to produce nanopores more cheaply would be the main ways to drive price down. As for patents, Oxford Nanopore has a pretty big portfolio for all things nanopore, so a direct competitor based on nanopores that would drive the price down seems unlikely (though they obviously have to compete on price with other sequencing methods to some degree).
twobitshifter 6y ago
What is a flow cell made out of and why is the cost so high?
- searine 6y ago
  It's made of plastic, glass, and the special protein pores which split the strand and read the DNA. Reagents and sample are applied to it to make the reaction happen. The flowcell gets contaminated with your sample after one run so they are 'one time use'. The nanonpore protein eventually stops working also. They are expensive because doing molecular biology is expensive. It requires expensive machines and expensive reagents at atomic scales to create. Thus money is required.
  - tdido 6y ago
    Actually, one of the main features of this tech apart from the obvious size-factor is that it's a streaming process. You can analyse data on the fly and decide when to stop the run. Wash the flowcell, and use it for another sample. Eventually the pores die, yes, how fast depends on the sample type. I think they guarantee 48 hours or something of the sort. The expensive part is not the chemistry. Each flowcell has a very expensive piece of metal that senses the very small current variations that each kmer causes when going through each pore. They've actually come up with a device (horribly named "flongle") that has the same shape of a flowcell but no pores, and the mini flowcell it uses is ~90USD (against ~900USD for a full flowcell). Of course, yield is much lower.

nojokes 6y ago

Is the price a question of scale? If this technology would become commonplace, would the price go down? Are there patents that would prevent cheaper chemical production?

hobofan 6y ago
I assume scale and more R&D on how to produce nanopores more cheaply would be the main ways to drive price down. As for patents, Oxford Nanopore has a pretty big portfolio for all things nanopore, so a direct competitor based on nanopores that would drive the price down seems unlikely (though they obviously have to compete on price with other sequencing methods to some degree).

twobitshifter 6y ago

What is a flow cell made out of and why is the cost so high?

searine 6y ago
It's made of plastic, glass, and the special protein pores which split the strand and read the DNA. Reagents and sample are applied to it to make the reaction happen. The flowcell gets contaminated with your sample after one run so they are 'one time use'. The nanonpore protein eventually stops working also. They are expensive because doing molecular biology is expensive. It requires expensive machines and expensive reagents at atomic scales to create. Thus money is required.
- tdido 6y ago
  Actually, one of the main features of this tech apart from the obvious size-factor is that it's a streaming process. You can analyse data on the fly and decide when to stop the run. Wash the flowcell, and use it for another sample. Eventually the pores die, yes, how fast depends on the sample type. I think they guarantee 48 hours or something of the sort. The expensive part is not the chemistry. Each flowcell has a very expensive piece of metal that senses the very small current variations that each kmer causes when going through each pore. They've actually come up with a device (horribly named "flongle") that has the same shape of a flowcell but no pores, and the mini flowcell it uses is ~90USD (against ~900USD for a full flowcell). Of course, yield is much lower.