Oxford Nanopore Technologies announces participation in €12m READNA project

Oxford Nanopore Technologies (“Oxford Nanopore”) today announced its participation in the Revolutionary Approaches and Devices for Nucleic Acid analysis project (READNA).  The newly-launched READNA consortium includes researchers from 16 academic and industrial institutions and will receive €12m in funding over four years, under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7).

As part of the consortium, Oxford Nanopore will receive €730,000 in grant funding to support the development of its nanopore technology into an early exonuclease/nanopore DNA sequencing system.  The Company will also work on projects to integrate protein nanopores and solid-state materials for the further progression of nanopore sequencing, the development of a new technique that uses nanopores for genome-wide methylation studies and the development of droplet-based bilayer arrays for rapid, multiplexed genotyping.

Oxford Nanopore will collaborate closely with researchers from the University of Oxford, including Professor Hagan Bayley’s Chemical Biology group, the Biological Physics group and the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics. The University will receive €2m to support READNA projects.

“We are proud to be part of the READNA project, which includes representatives from Europe’s leading research institutions and developers of genomic technologies,” said Dr Gordon Sanghera, CEO of Oxford Nanopore. “The consortium aims to revolutionise nucleic acid analysis.  Our role as the developer of a new generation of sequencing technology, based on nanopores, is critical to the project.  With support also being given to our academic collaborators, we believe we are in the best position to deliver a meaningful improvement in sequencing technology with our label-free, single-molecule nanopore system.”

The READNA consortium aims to revolutionise the analysis of nucleic acids by the improvement of existing methods and the development of new technologies.

Specific goals of the project include:

• Development of a new generation of rapid and cost effective sequencing methodologies
• Single molecule detection of DNA molecules in nanosystems using nanopores and nanochannels
• mprovement of elements of existing sequencing systems
• Methods for the detection and the enrichment of rare mutations from peripheral patient samples
• Combining RNA and DNA analysis in a single analytical device
• Development of methods for genome-wide analysis of DNA methylation at a high resolution
• Development of cost-effective high resolution HLA typing
• Development of assays for effective high-resolution genotyping of copy number variations

Overall, the project aims to progress towards a target of sequencing a complete human genome for €1000; the promotion of new sequencing technologies is central to this goal.

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Contact      +44 (0) 870 486 1966
Dr Gordon Sanghera, CEO
Zoe McDougall, Communications

Notes to Editors

Oxford Nanopore Technologies
Oxford Nanopore is developing nanopore technology, a revolutionary method of molecular detection and analysis with potential for DNA sequencing, diagnostics, drug development and defence applications.  The company was founded on the science of Professor Hagan Bayley of the University of Oxford.

The Company’s BASE™ technology is a system for DNA sequencing that uses nanopores to identify and record DNA bases. In contrast to current sequencing technologies, nanopores offer a potential method of directly sequencing individual DNA molecules. This removes the need for amplification or labelling, and allows detection from an electrical signal rather than by fluorescence-based CCD imaging. Arraying nanopores on a silicon chip allows for massively parallel, low cost sequencing.

Recent interest in the ‘race for the $1000 genome’ illustrates the needs for a sequencing technology that is powerful enough to provide more researchers with affordable sequencing power.  This is expected to enable an exponential increase in research and understanding of the genome, and accelerate new developments in medicine, agriculture, energy, biodiversity, evolutionary biology, genealogy and many other fields.

The nanopore molecular detection system is powerful and versatile beyond its DNA sequencing potential. It can be adapted to detect a wide range of molecules, including other nucleic acids, proteins, small organic molecules and ionic species.

READNA project
Dr. Ivo Gut (Project Coordinator): ProjectCoordinator.READNA@cng.fr
Steven McGinn (Project Manager): ProjectManager.READNA@cng.fr

The READNA consortium unites leading researchers from ten academic institutions, three SMEs and three large companies. Participants come from a diverse range of scientific disciplines, and their projects’ results are expected to improve many concepts of patient care including the development of new personalised medical strategies and treatments.  The combination of academic and industrial partners will encourage the fast and efficient transition from basic science to commercially available technologies.

Members of the consortium are as follows:

• Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique, FR. Project co-ordinator Dr Ivo Gut
• University of Uppsala, SE
• University of Oxford, UK
• University of Leicester, UK
• Max-Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics, DE
• Delft University of Technology, NL
• Lund University, SE
• University of Southampton, UK
• Christian Albrechts University, DE
• Technical University of Denmark, DN
• Olink Bioscience, SE
• Oxford Nanopore Technologies, UK
• Applied Biosystems, DE
• Photonis, FR
• Philips, DE
• FEBIT, DE

About FP7
FP7 is the short name for the Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development. This is the EU's main instrument for funding research in Europe and it will run from 2007-2013. FP7 is also designed to respond to Europe's employment needs, competitiveness and quality of life. Further information is available at http://ec.europa.eu/research/fp7/