Semiconductor Technology Revolutionizes DNA Sequencing

A latest generation, semiconductor based DNA sequencing system is expected to reduce the time required to produce a complete human gene to less than one day while costing less than USD 1000.

The Ion Torrent division of Life Technologies Corporation (Carlsbad, CA, USA) recently announced the launch of its benchtop Ion Proton Sequencer. This instrument, which is based on the next generation of semiconductor sequencing technology, will be priced initially at less than USD 150,000, putting it within the reach of many more laboratories than the current USD 500,000 to USD 750,000 systems on the market today.


Ion Torrent’s technology directly translates chemically encoded information into digital information on a semiconductor chip in an approach that marries simple chemistry to proprietary semiconductor technology. The result is a sequencing technology that is simpler, faster, more cost effective, and scalable than any other technology currently available.

Ion Torrent technology can be adapted to cover any sequencing application. The Ion PGM Sequencer was designed for sequencing genes, small genomes, panels of genes, or performing gene expression profiling. The Ion Proton Sequencer is ideal for sequencing both exomes and human genomes.

“Just six months after our first semiconductor sequencing chip was released, people used it to help solve the German E. coli outbreak, sequencing the toxic strain in just a couple of hours,” said Dr. Jonathan M. Rothberg, CEO of Life Technologies Corporation’s Ion Torrent division. “Now, six months later we are developing a chip that is 1,000 times more powerful than that to sequence an entire human genome in about the same amount of time. That is the power that semiconductors bring to sequencing.”

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Life Technologies Corporation