From New Scientist, we learn of the modeling by UCSD physicists of 100,000 atoms to test the design of a silicon nitride nanopore reading DNA 200 times faster than doable today:
“The system could process the human genome in hours, researchers claim, compared with the 6 months it would take in today’s best labs.
” ‘Because we’re all physicists working on this we’ve started at the very bottom – with atoms,’ explains Johan Lagerqvist, a physicist at the University of California, San Diego, US, who worked on the simulation. Lagerqvist and colleagues tested a virtual version of the system by modelling how 100,000 atoms in a short DNA strand, the silicon nitride nanopore, its electrodes and the surrounding chemical solution would all interact.” There’s a 19.5 MB MPEG movie.
Meanwhile, the Harvard Nanopore Group led by Daniel Branton is attempting to build a similar nanopore. (Source: FUTUREdition) —Christine
