Fighting Ebola’s Spread with a Palm-Sized DNA Sequencer

September 22, 2015

(The Atlantic) – Unlike rival sequencers, which are as big as microwaves or fridges, the MinION is the size of a chocolate bar. Cowley had three, and she could clutch them all in a single fist. These devices quite literally bring the power of modern genomics to the palm of your hand. And at a cost of just $1,000, they herald a new era where sequencing moves away from well-equipped institutions and into places where it is most needed, from hospitals to epidemic-afflicted hot zones. Rather than sending samples from outbreak sites to special labs, scientists like Cowley will be able to take the labs to the outbreaks.