Readers In The Storm: A Profile Of Automated DNA Sequencers

Date: November 10, 1997 Chart 1 Chart 2 It was a busy evening at The Eagle. Less than half a century ago, inside this small Cambridge pub, two gentlemen raised their glasses to salute their remarkable genetic findings. At the time, the two men (and a few close colleagues) were the only souls on the planet privy to the molecular structure of DNA. Does it seem odd, then, that researchers around the globe could be toasting the description of the entire human genome less than ten years from now? Y

Written byShane Beck

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Date: November 10, 1997

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It was a busy evening at The Eagle. Less than half a century ago, inside this small Cambridge pub, two gentlemen raised their glasses to salute their remarkable genetic findings. At the time, the two men (and a few close colleagues) were the only souls on the planet privy to the molecular structure of DNA. Does it seem odd, then, that researchers around the globe could be toasting the description of the entire human genome less than ten years from now?

You would be hard pressed to find a more high-tech, precision instrument in a biotech lab than an automated DNA sequencer. Using precision lasers and sensitive detection devices, these instruments are more finesse than brute force. DNA sequencers are likely to be set aside from all other pieces of laboratory hardware, having benchtops or entire rooms devoted to their presence. Similar ...

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