Abstract
Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) aims to disrupt the paradigm of biological analysis by enabling the analysis of any living thing, by any person, in any environment. Flexibility of nanopore technology has enabled researchers to use DNA and RNA sequencing in many different fields including basic genome research, human genetics, environmental research, plant research, transcriptome analysis, animal research or in clinical research.
Nanopore sequencing delivers short to ultra-long reads of DNA or RNA with rapid or automated library preparations. Coupled with flexible workflows, multiplexing, and real-time data analysis, ONT provides scalable sequencing solutions, from portable devices like MinION that has been designed to bring easy biological analyses to anyone, to large high throughput devices like PromethION suitable for large scale genomic projects. All these devices are based on nanopore sequencing technology in which a biological nanopore is being used as the sensor to read a characteristic ‘current signal’ when a DNA or RNA strand is moved by an enzyme motor through the nanopore under an applied potential.
I will discuss deails of the underlying technology of ONT, current and upcoming platforms, and new chemsitries that enable ONT to achieve over Q20 raw read accuracy and over Q30 duplex accuracy. I will further explain why nanopore seqeucning is being embraced by many countries over the world during the pandemic to combat Covid.
Bio
As the Vice President of R&D - Biologics, Dr. Lakmal Jayasinghe oversees all biological research and development projects at Oxford Nanopore. Lakmal joined ONT in 2006 after finishing his PhD in chemical biology in the University of Oxford. During his PhD in the Hagan Bayley group, Lakmal has studied different nanopores and has gained a wealth of knowledge in engineering nanopores using genetic and chemical approaches. His responsibilities at ONT include improving the readout signal of ONT platforms by upgrading its current nanopore reader and motor, as well as discovering new versions of nanopores, motors and chemistires to suit various ONT applications including protein seqeucning. Lakmal also works with many academic collaborators across the world to ensure that Oxford Nanopore uses the best possible biological components and chemsitires in its platforms.