Our Technology

Overview

Now you can directly analyze long segments of genomic DNA with a high-throughput platform that offers single-molecule selectivity.

The nanoAnalyzer System can work with minute samples to analyze several gigabases per hour without cutting up molecules, so you get valuable insight into genome structure.

Start your run with intuitive touch-screen controls, and let the nanoAnalyzer do the rest. The system unravels and confines chromosomal-length nucleic acids inside nanochannels and uses single-molecule imaging to visualize sequence motifs along hundreds of kilobases. This approach reveals meaningful biological information that is often disrupted when molecules are sheared, including:

Architecture of the order and arrangement of genome elements
Context outlining the relationships between elements
Interactions among individual or collections of genome elements
Epigenetic modifications occurring across the genome

The nanofluidic environment allows molecules to move swiftly through thousands of parallel channels simultaneously, enabling high-throughput processing.

Sequence finishing

Complete your sequencing to a higher standard, in less time with the help of a physical map to facilitate de novo assembly. The high-resolution nanoAnalyzer System gives you a detailed whole-genome scaffold against which to align data from next-generation sequencing. Now you can piece together the jigsaw with the help of the final picture.

Analyzing structural variation

Structural variation in chromosomal DNA accounts for a large amount of the variability between human genomes, likely influencing a substantial amount of phenotypic variation. Clinically, structural variants are increasingly associated with several conditions, such as Crohn’s disease, autism, schizophrenia, morbid obesity and cancer.

To study structural variation, researchers have traditionally been limited to techniques that first chop up coiled DNA into smaller fragments. The nanoAnalyzer System avoids that constraint by relaxing and straightening large DNA molecules so they can be imaged intact. Analysis of large whole molecules in this way allows researchers to directly view the context of their data.

Empowering platform

We are constantly working with our partners and customers to develop imaginative and valuable new applications for this powerful single-molecule capability.

Why it works

At the heart of the nanoAnalyzer System is a small nanochannel fluidic chip that can unravel, sort, and confine native-state, long genomic DNA fragments in a linearized conformation. It does not require front-end amplification or shearing of DNA into small fragments, which means you preserve potentially valuable structural information, including translocations and inversions.

Working with the nanoAnalyzer System is like assembling a jigsaw puzzle with the help of the complete picture.

How it works

Nanoscale channels on the surface of our nanofluidic chip are so narrow that only one long-strand DNA molecule can travel through at a time. Semi-flexible molecules do not have the room to tangle or fold back.
Proprietary micro- and nano-structures sit at the entrance of the channels to separate, uncoil and direct molecules into them. This process occurs simultaneously, in thousands of parallel channels.
Once the DNA or other long molecules are stretched inside the nanochannels, they can be optically imaged by the nanoAnalyzer CCD detector.
Labeled sites appear as a recognizable pattern of “dots on a string” and provide genetic information about molecular organization. Inconsistent features can reflect sites of DNA damage, translocations, tandem repeats, duplications and deletions, epigenetic markers, or other functional biological events.
Uniquely, the straightened molecules are able to move smoothly through the nanoscale fluidic environment, enabling multiple cycles of automated loading and imaging for high-throughput scanning and analysis.
Our solid-state nanoAnalyzer chip leverages the low cost, high quality and scalability of traditional semiconductor manufacturing.

In sum, our technology delivers reproducible, insightful genetic data in a fraction of the time and at a fraction of the cost of existing methods and technologies.

Patents

BioNano Genomics, Inc. has an exclusive, worldwide license to core intellectual property, which is owned and was originally developed at Princeton University. U.S. Patents 7,217,562 and 7,670,770 cover the fundamental method and device for isolating, imaging, and analyzing biopolymers confined within massively parallel nanoscale fluidic structures. Furthermore, BioNano Genomics has developed its own intellectual property, which currently consists of eight families of patent applications.