Researchers from Center for Life Science Ventures client Inso Biosciences and the University of Washington have developed a technology for isolating high-molecular-weight DNA and preparing libraries for nanopore sequencing directly from samples in a single microfluidic cartridge.
Described in a MedRxiv preprint last month, the method uses Inso’s yet-to-be commercialized microfluidic micropillar platform to generate sequencing-ready libraries from various sample types in as little as 30 minutes with input amounts as low as a single drop of blood.
Inso Bio’s technology was originally invented and developed in the lab of Harold Craighead, the Charles W. Lake Professor of Engineering Emeritus in Cornell Duffield Engineering.
As a graduate student in Craighead’s lab, Inso co-founder and CEO Harvey Tian coinvented the technology with fellow co-founder and CSO Adam Bisogni. The team exclusively licensed the technology from Cornell and raised $2.2 million in pre-seed financing in 2022 to commercialize the platform.
The technology isolates and purifies high-molecular-weight DNA by entangling the molecules onto micropillars in a microfluidic channel. Because the micropillar approach isolates DNA through gentle physical entanglement, it eliminates tube transfers, centrifugation, and intermediate elution steps required for traditional affinity binding-based approaches. As a result, the method minimizes DNA loss and mechanical shearing while reducing hands on processing time.