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On the whole, this "announcement" doesn't really provide a lot of detail, and some of the scientific explanation is misleading (or just wrong). That doesn't mea

by mjt0229 13y ago

On the whole, this "announcement" doesn't really provide a lot of detail, and some of the scientific explanation is misleading (or just wrong). That doesn't mean the development isn't exciting - doing a PCR on a chip that size is pretty cool.

jostmey 13y ago
I am going to guess that the chip is similar in design to that of Ion Torrent's DNA sequencer. I believe that Ion Torrent's DNA sequencer is nothing but millions of little pH sensors. In any case, THIS IS F*ING COOL!
- mylons 13y ago
  I used to work for Ion in R&D for their sequencers. Sales would claim, "the chip is the machine!" However, the chip really does nothing in Ion's case. Like you said, millions of little ph sensors. This thing actually lives up to the Ion Torrent promise. They could gain a lot of traction if they actually marketed it that way.
  - hyperbovine 13y ago
    > This thing actually lives up to the Ion Torrent promise. Are you sure of this? The video makes it sound like this thing is a sort of automated SNP chip, which is great, but is far less than what Ion Torrent is promising. You're getting a list of SNPs at known sites--no data on rare or novel variants. No sequence data also means you are powerless to detect any sort of structural variation.
    - mjt0229 13y ago
      That was my take as well, but the whole thing is so vague that it's hard to be sure.
    - mylons 13y ago
      Those are valid points, and we can go further and debate how suitable Ion is as a platform even for novel and structural variants. However, in terms of what Ion promised early on, and the talks they gave at genetic sequencing conferences -- the chip is far from the complete machine. Maybe I'm getting a little too semantical here, but this panasonic device does everything on the chip.
    - piqufoh 13y ago
      Correct - Ion Torrent (and Oxford Nanopore) promised a `sequencer on a chip` and this isn't that, it's `PCR on a chip`. That said, PCR for known SNPs (breast cancer, alzheima's etc) in this timescale could revolutionise modern medicine (no hyperbole!)

by mjt0229 13y ago

jostmey 13y ago

I am going to guess that the chip is similar in design to that of Ion Torrent's DNA sequencer. I believe that Ion Torrent's DNA sequencer is nothing but millions of little pH sensors. In any case, THIS IS F*ING COOL!

mylons 13y ago
I used to work for Ion in R&D for their sequencers. Sales would claim, "the chip is the machine!" However, the chip really does nothing in Ion's case. Like you said, millions of little ph sensors. This thing actually lives up to the Ion Torrent promise. They could gain a lot of traction if they actually marketed it that way.
- hyperbovine 13y ago
  > This thing actually lives up to the Ion Torrent promise. Are you sure of this? The video makes it sound like this thing is a sort of automated SNP chip, which is great, but is far less than what Ion Torrent is promising. You're getting a list of SNPs at known sites--no data on rare or novel variants. No sequence data also means you are powerless to detect any sort of structural variation.
  - mjt0229 13y ago
    That was my take as well, but the whole thing is so vague that it's hard to be sure.
  - mylons 13y ago
    Those are valid points, and we can go further and debate how suitable Ion is as a platform even for novel and structural variants. However, in terms of what Ion promised early on, and the talks they gave at genetic sequencing conferences -- the chip is far from the complete machine. Maybe I'm getting a little too semantical here, but this panasonic device does everything on the chip.
  - piqufoh 13y ago
    Correct - Ion Torrent (and Oxford Nanopore) promised a `sequencer on a chip` and this isn't that, it's `PCR on a chip`. That said, PCR for known SNPs (breast cancer, alzheima's etc) in this timescale could revolutionise modern medicine (no hyperbole!)