Oxford Nanopore Launches Flongle for Rapid, Smaller DNA/RNA Sequencing Tests in Any Environment

PR77820

OXFORD, England, March 13, 2019 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/ --

Oxford Nanopore has today made Flongle starter packs available to purchase

https://store.nanoporetech.com/flongle.html, after initial testing in an

early-access programme.  Flongle introduces a new paradigm of smaller,

on-demand DNA or RNA sequencing tests, with the potential to transform a range

of applications where rapid insights are required at low cost.

Oxford Nanopore's goal is to enable the analysis of any living thing, by

anyone, anywhere. Flongle is designed to bring this goal closer and to also

allow low-cost sequencing at any time. With its compact format, Flongle opens

up possibilities of on-demand testing in a broad range of locations, from

scientific laboratories to farms and factories, healthcare settings, outdoor

environments or classrooms.

Flongle is an adapter for the portable MinION and desktop GridION X5 sequencing

devices. It uses the same core nanopore sequencing technology as other Oxford

Nanopore devices, producing real-time data, direct sequencing and long reads.

The small Flongle flow cells can currently produce as much as 1.8 Gb of

sequence data with headroom for more than 3 Gb. This enables many sequencing

experiment types, including small-genome sequencing, targeted panels/amplicon

sequencing, metagenomics for the identification of viruses, bacteria or

characterisation of microbiomes, or species ID. It can also be used for quality

control for larger nanopore experiments.

At $90 per flow cell, Flongle allows on-demand sequencing at an affordable

price point, without needing to wait for the large batches of samples that are

often required to achieve low per-test costs on traditional sequencing devices.

The workflow is fast and simple, with library preparation in as little as ten

minutes and real-time data analysis.

Dr Matt Loose, from DeepSeq, School of Life Sciences, University of Nottingham,

has been testing the Flongle as part of an early access programme. "We've been

using Flongle for testing and developing new protocols such as CRISPR/Cas9

selection for targeting select regions of the human genome, as well as working

up new samples before running at scale on PromethION.  We've been very happy

with throughput and yield on early access flow cells and are looking forward to

incorporating production-ready Flongle into our workflows. It will be really

interesting to see how users apply Flongle in the field."

https://twitter.com/mattloose/status/1067115112220295168   

https://twitter.com/mattloose/status/1053307734802776070

Miten Jain, from the University of California, Santa Cruz, has also been

trialling Flongle: "Flongle-based sequencing is the best way to check a

nanopore library. At UC Santa Cruz, we now routinely sequence native RNA and

genomic DNA libraries on a Flongle Flow Cell before scaling them to our

PromethION.  We have observed that Flongle-based sequencing is a good predictor

of library quality and its performance on the PromethION.  Flongle also permits

experimental tests at a more affordable scale and will be an integral part of

our nanopore work going forward."

Dr Justin O'Grady is a translational researcher from University of East Anglia,

UK.  He has been developing nanopore-based research methods for the rapid

metagenomic characterisation of pathogens in clinical samples from patients

with pneumonia or urinary tract infections.  "I am excited about how Flongle

can help identify pathogens and antimicrobial resistance more quickly, and how

such technologies could be used in settings much closer to patients in the

future."  

https://twitter.com/Justin_OGrady/status/1055855306754924544

Flongle starter packs are now available in store. These starter packs include

the Flongle adapter and users can choose to run these on their MinION or

GridION devices. Users will be able to purchase additional flow cells for $90

each. Protocols are being made available and use the current preparation kits

already compatible with MinION, GridION and PromethION.

Oxford Nanopore is now taking pre-orders for  the MinION Mk1C

https://nanoporetech.com/products/minion-mk1c, which combines the real-time,

portable sequencing of MinION with powerful computing and a high-resolution

touchscreen. This device will be compatible with Flongle enabling rapid,

field-based analyses; more information will be provided soon.

Video - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/834428/Oxford_Nanopore_Flongle.mp4

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/834426/Oxford_Nanopore_Flongle.jpg

Contact: Zoe McDougall, media@nanoporetech.com

Source: Oxford Nanopore Technologies