A Genome Sequencer the Size of a Grapefruit

GenomeWeb Daily News announced today that:

The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation made the award to the researcher, who will share a portion of it with the firm, to develop a portable device to identify samples of animals and plants in the field by sequencing short stretches of DNA, so-called DNA barcodes. But the instrument, which will be the size of a grapefruit and cost less then $25,000, might have wider applications, including those in biodefense and forensics, according to its inventors.

"A lot of funding is going into DNA sequencing but none of it seems likely to lead to a portable DNA barcode reader," said a spokesman for the Moore Foundation, which plans to announce the award in a few weeks on its website.

Anyone want to bet on how long it will be before a Treo, Blackberry or Palm can do DNA sequencing?