Oxford Nanopore Technologies Ltd 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 employs nanopores to process, identify and record DNA bases in sequence. In contrast to current sequencing technologies, nanopores can measure single molecules directly, without nucleic acid amplification, chemical labelling, optical instrumentation or the need to convert photon signals into to digital data. Single nanopores can be set within individual wells in an arrayed silicon chip, making the system massively scalable.  This simple but elegant technology has unique potential to transform the speed and cost of DNA sequencing. Recent interest in the “race for the $1000 genome" emphasises the critical medical and research needs for a sequencing technology that is so affordable and accessible that research and understanding of the genome will increase exponentially. This knowledge will enable a new era 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 promise. It can be adapted to detect a wide range of molecules, including other nucleic acids, proteins, small organic molecules and ionic species.