Oxford Nanopore announces improved chemistry targeting two human genomes per flow cell

Oxford Nanopore Technologies/PromethION

At the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference, Oxford Nanopore announced improved sequencing chemistry and consumables designed to enable sequencing two human genomes per PromethION flow cell. The company noted significant headroom remains for future scaling, with potential to reach four genomes per flow cell.

• Standard PromethION performance: 150+ Gb per flow cell, enough for one human genome at standard coverage.
• New chemistry targets multiplexing two genomes per flow cell without loss of methylation calling or data quality.
• Roadmap indicates four genomes per flow cell possible with further chemistry optimization.
• Goal: reduce cost per premium whole genome with methylation below $345 at 30x coverage.