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MinION, a portable sequencer that fits in the palm of your hand

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At the end of 2014, the company Oxford Nanopore Technologies presented a device that promised to revolutionize DNA analysis. Slightly larger than a lighter, MinION became the smallest sequencer ever made up to the date. The portable device, weighing around 100 grams, connected to a computer to sequence DNA and RNA, and included a bioinformatic program to facilitate part of the data analysis, enabling researchers to do it on-site and in real time.

OncoPad, an open platform for rational design of sequencing panels

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Every day thousands of scientists around the world sequence and analyze millions of genetic data. In clinical practice, the information they compile is used to determine possible somatic mutations that could play a role in the diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of diseases. The DNA sequencing of a tumor can be done in three different ways: analyzing the entire genome, reading only the genome’s coding portion (exome) or through panels.

Ivo Gut (CNAG): “Sequencing has evolved more than computers in the last ten years”

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Cambridge is an emblematic city in the history of science. Nestling among faculties and laboratories lies the Biochemistry Department, where illustrious researchers of the ilk of Hans Kornberg and César Milstein once worked. It was also where a young Fred Sanger completed his PhD in 1943.

After tragically losing his parents to cancer, the British scientist decided to dedicate his life to his work. Shortly after completing his doctoral thesis, Sanger began to take an interest in protein sequencing, and his research earned him his first Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1958, after he deciphered the complete sequence of insulin.