NEW YORK, Sept 26 - Mitsubishi Rayon of Japan said Tuesday it had developed a technology to manufacture DNA chips that could reduce manufacturing costs by 90 percent, the Agence France-Presse reported from Tokyo.
" We have developed the technology to manufacture DNA chips," the AFP cited Koji Yamazaki, a spokesman for Japan's largest acrylic fiber maker, as saying.
" The company plans to reduce DNA chip manufacturing costs to less than a tenth of conventional manufacturing procedures."
Unlike Affymetrix (Nasdaq: AFFX), which uses semiconductor-manufacturing techniques to make its chips, the AFP said Mitsubishi Rayon places strands of DNA inside fine, hollow fibers.
Mitsubishi Rayon has filed patent applications in more than 40 countries including Japan and the United States.
The company plans to begin shipping samples of the chips early next year to research bodies worldwide. It aims to finish developing the technology within two years, AFP said.