• Question: Do you think that protein nanopores can help in identifying and treating infections with a more holistic approach in a health care setting?

    Asked by anon-252272 to Sandra on 30 Apr 2020.
    • Photo: Sandra Greive

      Sandra Greive answered on 30 Apr 2020:

      Hi Mohsin, Oxford Nanopore Technologies already have a DNA sequencing nanopore platform that fits inside a glasses case, called a minION, however, it still needs a high powered laptop to analyse the data. This has previously been used to determine the entire sequence of the Ebola virus genome in the field (not in a specialised lab) during the last major Ebola outbreak in ~2016. Recently this technology was used by diagnostic labs in China to define the entire sequence of SARS-CoV2 as diagnostic tests for confirmation of COVID-19 disease. This was before development of the new Reverse-Transcriptase kits that are the main tests used now. New applications for detecting tiny amounts of specific chemical or proteins markers for particular diseases are currently in development by biotechnology and academic research laboratories. Ideally a portable system for these tests could be used in clinical settings at the point of care.

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