Advanced Research Corporation (ARC) proposes to develop a device that is able to sequence single molecules of DNA up to the rate of one million bases per second. This will be accomplished through the use of semiconductor photolithography techniques combined with focused ion beam nanofabrication techniques. A solid-state membrance channel or nanopore with a diameter of less than 10 nm will be generated in a silicon-based chip that contains electrodes transverse to the pore. Single DNA molecules will flow through the pore by electrophoresis, and measurements will be made using the transverse electrodes located at the pore. A large part of life science research is determining what DNA sequences are present in a living organism and what the sequences correspond to. Understanding the molecular basis of disease will come from the collection of much more DNA sequence information than is now available, including the comparison of sequences of known normal samples and known diseased samples. Currently, sequencing entire genomes of these different samples is not practical from both technological and financial standpoints. ARC proposes to build a nanopore sequencing device that will reduce current genome projects from years to minutes.
A solid-state nanopore DNA sequencing device would replace machines, labor and reagents that now cost millions of dollars. The throughput of large-scale DNA sequencing operations will be affordable and open up the need for many more enabling technologies that will be required for the handling and analysis of the data. In addition, data channels will be developed to handle this new challenge that coup provide spin-offs to the data storage industry.
