Oxford Nanopore Technologies plc is a UK-based company which develops and sells nanopore sequencing products (including the portable DNA sequencer, MinION) for the direct, electronic analysis of single molecules.[2][3][4]
In March 2016 the company announced a chemistry upgrade to its nanopore sequencing product 'R9', using a protein nanopore in collaboration with the laboratory of Han Remaut (VIB/Vrije Universiteit Brussel).[8] The company stated in a webcast that R9 is designed to improve error rates and yield.[9]
In July 2016, a MinION nanopore sequencer was included on the ninth NASA/SpaceX commercial cargo resupply services mission to the International Space Station.[10] The aim of the mission was to provide proof of concept for the MinION's functionality in a microgravity environment.[11] During the mission, ISS crew members successfully sequenced DNA from bacteria, bacteriophage and rodents from samples prepared on Earth.[12] Maintaining the MinION device as a research facility on the space station holds the potential to support a number of additional science investigations, any of which could have Earth based applications.[13]
MinION:[3][14][15] this harmonica-sized portable protein nanopore sequencing USB device has been commercially available since May 2015[16] after having been launched initially through an early access program, the MinION Access Program (MAP).[17]
GridION X5: this desktop device has been commercially available since March 2017.[18] The device processes up to five MinION Flow Cells and enables generation of up to 100 Gb of data per run.[19]
PromethION: this desktop, high throughput device will be available through an access program[20] that opened for registration in July 2015. The device contains channels for 144,000 nanopores (in comparison to MinION’s 512).[21]
VolTRAX: this device is designed for automated sample preparation so that users do not need a laboratory or lab skills to run the device.[22] Registration for the early access program was opened in October 2016.[23]
Metrichor: this spinout company from Oxford Nanopore was set up to provide end to end solutions for biological analyses, using nanopore sensing technologies.[24][25]
SmidgION: a mobile phone sequencer announced in May 2016, currently in development.[26]
^McIntyre, Alexa B. R.; Rizzardi, Lindsay; Yu, Angela M.; Rosen, Gail L.; Alexander, Noah; Botkin, Douglas J.; John, Kristen K.; Castro-Wallace, Sarah L.; Burton, Aaron S. (10 December 2015). "Nanopore Sequencing in Microgravity". bioRxiv10.1101/032342.