But DNA chip technology for scanning these so-called single nucleotide polymorphisms, or SNPs ("snips"), was prohibitively expensive in 2000.
Banc of America Securities analyst Jim Reddoch says Affymetrix still has the vast majority of the DNA chip market.
Reddoch notes that Agilent doesn't disclose its DNA chip sales, but he estimates it has a mere 10% of the market.
Perlegen, a spinoff of Affymetrix, a DNA chip pioneer, is taking advantage of the fact that any two humans are 99.9% genetically identical.
Another Forbes cover story on genetic testing, by Herper and me in 2007, predicted an avalanche of genetic risk findings from DNA chip studies of common diseases.
FORBES: A Reality Check On Forbes' Outrageous Prediction Of A $100 Billion DNA Industry
Perlegen, a spinoff of DNA chip pioneer Affymetrix (nasdaq: AFFX - news - people ), is taking advantage of the fact that any two humans are 99.9% genetically identical.
By 2003 Illumina scientist Kevin Gunderson invented a chemical process that allowed Illumina to get more-accurate results, even as it packed more DNA on a chip. (Instead of the lithography that Affymetrix uses, Illumina affixes DNA to tiny glass beads packed in the chip.) "I've been in the analytical sciences for 30 years, and I've never seen anything this accurate, " says John W. Hooper, chief executive of Quebec gene-finding firm Genizon, an Illumina customer.
The PGM uses a semiconductor chip to sequencing DNA, a technology that Ion Torrent founder Jonathan Rothberg says will allow his machine to increase in speed at a rate of 10-fold every six months.
The strands light up in those places where there's a mismatch between the chip's everyman DNA and that of the person being tested.
The strands work like a molecular Light Brite, lighting up in those places where there's a mismatch between the chip's everyman DNA and that of the person being tested.
The chip division's new Digital DNA brand is Motorola's answer to the Intel Inside campaign.
The initial Ion Torrent semiconductor chip could read out 10 million DNA letters.
The new version puts the full DNA extraction, amplification and separation processes on a newer chip that meets NEC's original goal of producing output in 25 minutes -- faster than a short cop drama, if you include the commercial breaks.
ENGADGET: NEC shows 2014-era portable DNA analyzer that could outpace your favorite crime drama
On top of the chip is a tiny channel the width of two human hairs into which DNA is fed.
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