To enable the analysis of anything, by anyone, anywhere

Subscribe

Oxford Nanopore makes a novel generation of DNA/RNA sequencing technology that provides rich data, is fast, accessible and easy to use. Our goal is to disrupt the way that biological analyses are currently performed, and open up new applications that have a profound, positive impact on society.

ONT staff group photo

Who we are

Oxford Nanopore Technologies plc was founded in 2005 as a spin-out from the University of Oxford. The company now employs more than 1000 employees from multiple disciplines including nanopore science, molecular biology and applications, informatics, engineering, electronics, manufacturing and commercialisation. The management team, led by CEO Dr Gordon Sanghera, has a track record of delivering disruptive technologies to the market.

Company history

Where we are

Oxford Nanopore is a public company, headquartered at the Oxford Science Park outside Oxford, UK, with satellite offices in Cambridge (UK), New York, Cambridge, San Francisco (US), Singapore, Shanghai, Beijing, and a broader commercial presence that includes Japan, Germany, France and India. The company sells to more than 120 countries and is in a period of rapid growth.

In the summer of 2019, we opened a new high-tech manufacturing facility in Oxford.

Contact us
we_are_a_community
about-technology

The technology

Oxford Nanopore has developed a new generation of DNA/RNA sequencing technology. It is the only sequencing technology that offers real-time analysis (for rapid insights), in fully scalable formats from pocket to population scale, that can analyse native DNA or RNA and sequence any length of fragment to achieve short to ultra-long read lengths.

Small formats such as Flongle address the need for on-demand, rapid, smaller tests or experiments, and can be used in labs or in the field. The pocket-sized MinION is a powerful and portable sequencing device that can deliver high volumes of long read sequence data. The benchtop GridION can run up to five MinION Flow Cells at a time, on-demand, for larger genomics projects. PromethION is the largest format for nanopore sequencing, designed to offer on-demand use of up to 48 Flow Cells - capable of delivering more than 10 Tb of sequence data in a full run, and is now being used in population-scale sequencing projects. The palm sized PromethION 2 makes high-output nanopore sequencing broadly accessible

To make the technology suitable for any user, we focus on increasing ease of use and automation. Nanopore sequencing offers easy and rapid preparation, including a ten minute library preparation kit. We also provide a range of analysis workflows.

Learn more about our technology

Why DNA/RNA?

DNA and RNA are molecules that are present in all living things. DNA contains an organism’s genetic code, the instructions for building and operating an organism. RNA is primarily a messenger molecule, carrying instructions from the DNA code to control the synthesis of proteins – the building blocks of organisms.

Sequencing is the process of identifying the order of ‘bases’ on a molecule of DNA or RNA. This is called a ‘sequence’.

This sequence data can answer a range of biological questions such as what is it? or Is it healthy or diseased?.

環境

この川の微生物の構成はどのように変化しているか? 種は何か? 危機に瀕しているか? この地域の生物学的多様性について何が分かるか?

Learn more

病原菌 & 微生物

このウイルス/細菌/真菌は何か? 病原性の要因は? 抗菌剤耐性があるか? これに起因する疾患を予防または治療するには、この情報をどのように活用すればよいか?

Learn more

全ゲノムシークエンス

リード長が4 Mbを上回ることが示されている)ロングリードを用いて微生物、ヒト、動物、植物のゲノムアセンブリを作成、補完。

Learn more

がん研究

このがんの原因となる遺伝子変化は何か?さらに広範な細胞経路でこのような変化が生じる機序は? このような変化に関する知見は治療法の選択に影響を与えるか? この知見に基づいて新たな治療法を開発できるか?

Learn more

クリニカルリサーチ

医療の個別化のためにシークエンスデータをどのように活用すればよいか? 臨床意思決定にシークエンスデータをどのように組み込むことができるか? 患者のゲノムが疾患や感染症に対する反応にどのような影響を及ぼしているか?

Learn more

Who needs DNA/RNA information?

scientific-research

Scientific research

Sequence data is used throughout scientific research, whether in university, government or industrial research groups, to help biologists answer a range of questions.

The majority of users of Oxford Nanopore’s sequencing technology are currently research scientists.

applied-markets

Applied markets

Outside scientific research, DNA/RNA information can be used to support ‘real life’ decision making, whether that is in healthcare, industrial or other environments. Some of these sectors are regulated, such as in healthcare and food safety.

As well as providing devices for lab-based testing, Oxford Nanopore’s sequencing technology is uniquely deployable in distributed, near-s

Applied Markets

healthcare

Healthcare

  • Oxford Nanopore’s technology is currently being used in multiple external clinical research laboratories, for example to characterise infectious disease samples, to investigate tissue typing in advance of transplants, and to provide insights into reproductive health.

  • Nanopore technology is also highly suited to the development of diagnostic assays.

  • A broad range of clinical areas may potentially benefit from rapid genomic insights: What disease does this person have? What is the optimal treatment pathway for this person?

Industry

  • Is this food/water safe to sell/consume? Do we need to shut down our production line to clean it?
  • Can we optimise production of our livestock, fish or seafood?
  • Can we optimise biopharma biological production?
  • Can I perform real time surveillance of the organisms in this environment?
we_are_a_community
circle-genome-science

Scientific Research

Genome Science

What is the structure and function of the human genome?

circle-microbiology

Scientific Research

Pathogens / Microbiology

What is this virus/bacteria/fungus? What makes it pathogenic? Is it resistant to antimicrobial drugs? How could we use this information to prevent or treat the disease that it causes?

circle-environmental

Scientific Research

Environmental

How is the microbial composition of this ocean/glacier/lake changing? What is this species? Is it endangered? What can we understand about the biodiversity within this area?

circle-epidemiology

Scientific Research

Epidemiology

What is this pathogen? How is it changing? How is it being transmitted? At March 2021, approximately a quarter of the COVID-19 sequences in the GISAID platform were sequenced on a nanopore device.

circle-transcriptomics

Scientific Research

Transcriptomics

How do different conditions impact which genes we use and when? What does this mean for human health.

circle-security

Scientific Research

Security

Is there a harmful pathogen here? What is the origin of the pathogen? Is this environment safe? What is this species? Is it being shipped illegally?

circle-human-genetics

Scientific Research

Human Genetics

How does variation between individuals influence their characteristics, disease risk or response to medication?

circle-clinical-research

Scientific Research

Clinical Research

How can we use sequence data to personalise medicine? How can we integrate sequence data into clinical decision making? How does a person’s genome influence how they may respond to a disease or an infection?

circle-crops

Scientific Research

Plants / Crops

What are the differences between these tomato crops? How can we breed better varieties, that are more productive, long lasting or taste better? How can we apply this knowledge to a variety of plants from cereals to flowers?

circle-education

Scientific Research

Education

School and university students: Can I use sequencing as a fundamental tool to understand biology, data analysis, experimental design, and become a citizen scientist of the future?

circle-population-scale-genomics

Scientific Research

Population-scale genomics

What can we learn about the characteristics and diversity of genomes of a specific population of people, and how can we apply this to improve the health of those people?

innovation

Innovation

With a best-in-class R&D team, Oxford Nanopore's innovation drive has delivered a novel generation of sequencing technology and surrounding, enabling technologies. We continue to invest heavily in innovation, to drive disruption of the scientific markets.

Supported by a broad patent portfolio generated by internal R&D and external collaborations, the Oxford Nanopore pipeline includes more than 2,600 patents and applications. The portfolio includes multiple generations of nanopore-based sensing technologies, including those based on both biological and solid-state nanopores.

Intellectual property

Oxford Nanopore’s technology has now been featured in more than 8,600 scientific publications.

You can find out more about the work of the nanopore community at our Resource Centre, and more detail about the research applications in our Applications area.

Anyone anywhere

Accessibility is central to our goal, and it is baked into everything we do, whether that is product design, pricing or how we support our customers.

In 2015, we chose to launch a device to the market that was accessible to any scientist. A MinION starter pack cost $1,000, could be shipped or used anywhere and was easy to use. A thriving community of scientists grew around the device, and these pioneering researchers continue to break boundaries, whether by sequencing in the Antarctic or characterising drug resistant tuberculosis in Madagascar.

Portable sequencing
minion-antarctica

Subscribe

Get in touch


Talk to us

If you have any questions about our products or services, chat directly with a member of our sales team.


Book a sales call

To book a call with one of our sales team, please click below.