The Latest Scoop on the MinION Portable Sequencer

September 17, 2014 | With 500 labs on six continents now using MinION nanopore sequencers as part of Oxford Nanopore's early access program, both the company and users are opening up about the device's capabilities. At MIT Technology Review, sources report an accuracy rate of 60 to 85% — on the high end, comparable to the PacBio RSII sequencer — and reads stretching as long as 79,000 bases. (Some users have suggested that the MinION's read lengths are more limited by sample preparation than by the device itself.) While early access participants are abuzz with the possibilities a handheld sequencer presents for mobile DNA analysis, Clive Brown, the company's CEO, has also revealed that a high throughput nanopore sequencer, the PromethION, is nearing its public debut, and could offer a greater than 100-fold increase in throughput. MIT Technology Review