Flow cells
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All Oxford Nanopore sequencing devices rely on flow cells for sequencing to take place — this is where the nanopores are housed. MinION flow cells are compatible with MinION, our pocket-sized portable sequencer, and GridION, our compact desktop sequencer. PromethION is designed to use up to 24 PromethION Flow Cells at a time, for large-scale projects requiring ultra-high throughput.
The choice of device, and number of flow cells enables Oxford Nanopore sequencing to be fully scalable — from pocket to population. Oxford Nanopore devices are built with a flexible approach in mind, and the larger devices can be run with a single or multiple flow cells, depending on experimental needs. Flow Cells can be added at any point, without disrupting those already sequencing.
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The MinION Flow Cell
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The PromethION Flow Cell
What's inside a flow cell
Oxford Nanopore devices are based around a core sensing unit — a nanopore set in an arrayed sensor chip — used alongside a bespoke Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), which controls and measures the experiments.
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Nanopore
A protein nanopore is set in an electrically-resistant polymer membrane. Learn more about nanopores here.
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Array of microscaffolds
Each microscaffold supports a membrane and embedded nanopore. The array keeps the multiple nanopores stable during shipping and usage.
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Sensor chip
Each microscaffold corresponds to its own electrode that is connected to an array chip to a channel in the sensor array chip. Sensor arrays may be manufactured with any number of channels.
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ASIC
Each nanopore channel is controlled ASIC and measured individually by the bespoke ASIC. This allows for multiple nanopore experiments to be performed in parallel. More than one ASIC may be included in a device, and Oxford Nanopore is building ASICs of different sizes for different purposes.
Flow cells can be reused and recycled
We encourage users of our technology to send their used flow cells back to us once they have reached the end of their useful life. We’re able to recycle some of the electrical components of the flow cells returned to us, in turn reducing the impact of our products on the environment.
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We also encourage users to re-use their flow cells where possible. Using the Wash Kit, you can expect to reuse a flow cell up to five times. Customers can also run a platform QC prior to a run, to evaluate how many of the nanopores are available to begin their sequencing experiment. Finally, with real-time sequencing, customers can stop their sequencing run once a result has been achieved, therefore enabling them to get more out of every flow cell.
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MinION
The only portable, palm-sized sequencer for DNA and RNA sequencing. Offering cost-effective, real-time sequencing for rapid insights.
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GridION
From gene expression analysis to high-throughput targeted mutation detection, run multiple experiments on-demand using five independent MinION Flow Cells.
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PromethION 2 devices
Offering two independent PromethION Flow Cells for low-cost access to high-output sequencing — ideal for smaller sample number whole-genome and transcriptome projects.
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PromethION 24
Genomic and transcriptomic sequencing using up to 24 independent, high-capacity flow cells — for in-depth characterisation of large numbers of clinical research samples.
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