Roche has announced that it is working with IBM to develop a nanopore-based technology, which could lead to cost-effective personalised healthcare.
The technology is designed to read and sequence human DNA quickly and efficiently, and promises advantages in cost, throughput and speed in comparison to existing sequencing technologies.
Roche’s head of applied science, Manfred Baier, said that sequencing is an increasingly critical tool for personalised healthcare.
“It can provide the individual genetic information necessary for the effective diagnosis and targeted treatment of diseases,” he said.
It is hoped that the technology will reduce the cost of sequencing an entire human genome to less than $1,000, and that these savings can be swiftly passed on to the marketplace.
Roche will fund continued development of the technology at IBM and provide additional resources through their sequencing subsidiary, 454 Life Sciences, as part of the agreement.
