A Shiny Toy

The speed and price of the Ion Torrent machine could bring sequencing into the reach of even more researchers, says this article at Technology Review. "It takes the democratization of sequencing to the next level," the Broad's Chad Nusbaum tells Tech Review. "Virtually anyone with good grant funding can buy one." The article notes that though the machines are cheap — $50,000 — the disposable chips that it uses cost $250 and can only be used once, which drives up sequencing costs. George Church adds that while the price tag makes it more feasible for researchers to buy their own sequencing machines, it's not certain that they will. At our sister publication In Sequence, Julia Karow goes into more detail on the machine's technical specs and early feedback from beta users.