deltaDOT announces the launch of Merlin, a capillary-based DNA sequencer providing a major step forward in low-cost rapid-throughput DNA sequencing

deltaDOT Ltd, a developer of highly innovative enabling technologies and products for bioscience research, launched its Merlin capillary-based DNA sequencer at the Human Genome Meeting in Helsinki, Finland. Merlin incorporates advanced imaging technology developed by the Company to enable label-free rapid throughput sequencing at low cost.

Conventional DNA sequencing systems rely on the use of labels attached to the molecules in order to detect the presence of nucleic acids making up the DNA sequence. However, by incorporating deltaDOT’s Label Free Intrinsic Imaging™ technology (LFII™), Merlin is able to monitor unlabelled biomolecules directly, in real time.

LFII™ works by using many hundreds of UV detectors to image the biomolecules as they traverse the capillary electrophoresis (CE) system. Merlin, which is a short-read (c. 200-300 base pairs) CE DNA sequencer, applies LFII™ to the separation stage of nucleic acid sequencing, eliminating the need to label the molecules, saving both time and costs. The advanced system incorporates signal processing and data mining tools to separate and identify unlabelled biomolecules, providing unprecedented resolution, sensitivity and reproducibility of analysis.

Merlin was developed by deltaDOT for short turnaround, inexpensive applications, where the top-of-the-line DNA sequencers are not as cost-effective or efficient to use. However, the system also has potential for application in forensic science laboratories.

“Having achieved the resolution necessary to resolve DNA sequence information, we have been working with an internationally renowned forensic science provider to apply Merlin to the analysis of Short Tandem Repeats (STRs). STRs have become popular DNA markers because the number of repeats can be highly variable among individuals, making STRs highly effective for human identification purposes.

On-site forensic analysis is currently hampered by instrument size and consumable needs. However, the use of Merlin will, for the first time, allow the development of portable field based forensic systems, indicating that our LFIITM technology will play an important role in field based forensic analysis in the next decade.” Explained Dr Stuart Hassard, Co-founder and Head Biologist of deltaDOT.

Dr Anthony Baxter, CEO of deltaDOT, commented: “Merlin has been developed to deliver accurate results rapidly at a tiny fraction of the running costs of standard sequencers. The use of LFIITM for DNA sequencing provides a crucial advantage as it avoids the need for highly expensive labelling reagents, thereby saving users up to thousands of dollars a day.”

Merlin is the second product to be developed by deltaDOT using the company’s LFIITM technology. Peregrine, which is a bench-top system, was developed by deltaDOT for the label-free analysis of DNA, proteins, bacteria, virus and small molecules.