Sequencers will be produced in Russia
A new startup of the Zelenograd Nanocenter will decode the DNA and RNA code
The presentation of the startup took place at a press conference of the Nanocenter, whose board of directors has already approved the first stage of the project implementation - the Zelenograd Nanocenter, together with the Rusnano Educational and Infrastructure Programs Fund, allocated about $ 1 million for it.
Philip Kapranov, one of the founders of the startup and a leading researcher at the Sant Laurent Institute (Washington, USA), spoke about the idea of the startup and answered journalists' questions.
– I am a molecular biologist and cooperate with Evgeny Chaplygin [Head of the Investment Department of the Nanocenter – Zelenograd.ru ] and with MIET for about a year. We want to create a company for the development and production of a sequencer that will work on a new principle. In short, a sequencer is a device that reads the sequence of nucleic acids in DNA or RNA contained in the cells of any living organisms. Such machines already exist, they are now actively used in biology and medicine; it is believed that they have a great future in understanding diseases and human development. We want to develop such a machine together with MIET. Of course, this is a very ambitious project – today all the companies that develop and produce such devices are located in the USA, and I work for one of these companies – the company Helicos, which created the technology for sequencing individual DNA and RNA molecules. I want to take this knowledge as a basis and develop an even stronger and more successful device, which is very necessary in biology and medicine."
– Why did you choose Zelenograd Nanocenter as a partner for the development of your project?
– The project is multidisciplinary – it is biology, nanotechnology, and programming, and special emphasis is placed on the manipulation and analysis of DNA at the nano-level. We want to implement direct DNA sequencing, just consider these molecules, remove the spectrum from their bases with a size of 0.3 nm. There is a very large component of microelectronics, probe microscopy and spectroscopy methods, in which Zelenograd is traditionally strong – there are three companies in the city that develop and sell probe microscopes, there is a microelectronics base and the ability to explore objects at the nano- and subnano-level, approaching the size of the angstrom, which is what we need.
– Are there more Russian or American developers in the startup group? Who will get the intellectual property and developments created by the project – Russian or American partners?
– Yes, we are working with the Nanocenter and with MIET, and perhaps we will open some kind of commercial enterprise. All the know-how will remain in Russia, as long as it is planned so. If we involve American development or finance partners, this may change in the future. Now the startup is mainly Russian developers, only I am a US citizen.
– The media covering science and technology have recently been full of reports about new ways to decode the human genome, and the latest approach is an attempt to "stretch" a DNA molecule through several nanoscale holes and thus count the entire genome sequence. What is your principle?
– In obtaining the chemical spectrum of an individual molecule. DNA and RNA consist of 4 main components, but everything is much more complicated – these 4 bases have many secondary chemical modifications... It is important to know them, since their presence or absence has biological consequences. Now a couple of hundred of these modifications are known – those that have already been discovered. All sequencing technologies, including the one you mentioned, cannot read these modifications. We want to sequence the molecules in as much detail as possible, to get all the information about them. Our goal is that only 1 molecule of the material is sufficient for analysis.
– Where are the main consumers of such sequencers?
– Consumers are most likely to be located in countries where medical research is currently actively developing – the USA, Western Europe, Japan and China, which has also recently entered this game (for example, the Beijing Institute of Genomics recently bought more than a hundred sequencers, each of which costs 750 thousand dollars). Genome and RNA sequencing is gaining momentum, and we hope that Russia will join this group of countries in the future. In the fields of sciences, our consumers are in biology and biomedicine.
– Does the project have restrictions on the time of implementation, on entering commercialization?
– We have not set deadlines for ourselves yet, but of course there are, since this branch of science is developing very quickly. I think we have 3-4 years, in 10 years we will be too late. Everything also depends on the financing of the project. Our competitors, for example, have burned $500 million and have not yet reached the point of receiving their sequencer. We are taking consistent steps, since the idea appeared – when we just sat down, talked and shook hands – about a year has passed. During this time, we have conducted preliminary studies and received the results, written preliminary grants and are looking for funding. If it appears, then we now know what to do with it – how to make this device, and on a high-throughput basis, so that it is really competitive.
– The purpose of the project is to determine the predisposition to diseases by the DNA genome. Tell us more about it: what will be the output, what will be the social significance and benefit for consumers?
– There are two main points here. First, fundamental science, the study of the mechanisms of diseases and their development. What we want to sequence is the "information currency" of the cell, DNA and RNA. For some reason, everyone usually talks about DNA, but it is RNA that is the "information currency" of the cell, and DNA is just a "hard drive". We want to count and understand the program by which the cell works, and as soon as we do this, we will begin to understand the mechanisms that function in a normal cell, and see what goes wrong in a diseased cell, what causes this cell to develop differently or transforms it into a cancerous one. This fundamental basis is of great practical importance – the more we understand, the more chances we have to change it somehow. We will be able to diagnose diseases, predict them and their course. There are cancers with the same name that are actually activated by different changes in normal cell programs – if we can isolate them, catch them, we can predict the course of the disease, whether an aggressive course of treatment is needed or a milder one. Thus, the second goal is to use the fundamental understanding of cellular processes in medicine, for the benefit of patients.
Anatoly Kovalev, General Director of the Zelenograd Nanocenter, said at a press conference that his board of directors has already approved the first stage of the NanoVision project implementation. Funding in the amount of about $ 1 million will be provided by the Nanocenter itself – to conduct the necessary examinations and start work – as well as the Rusnano Educational and Infrastructure Programs Fund, at the expense of which some equipment for the startup will be purchased. "In addition, we, as in any other project, count on the involvement of other investors. – Anatoly Kovalev noted. – There is already a company that will become the operator of the project and the owner of the technology together with the Nanocenter. The process is proceeding quite quickly, the main decisions have been made, the project has started, and we will try to adjust the schedules and deadlines for its implementation and, if possible, shorten it."
It is worth noting that this is not the first project of a domestic sequencer – in 2012, the media already reported on holding a round table in the State Duma on the topic "Development of domestic semiconductor genomic sequencing technology", which was attended by the authors of the latest domestic developments in this area – including the CEO of the company "Gamma" from Zelenograd Mikhail Gutorov. In comments to the newspaper "Search", he told about a joint project to develop a domestic sequencer, in which scientists from Pushchina, Zelenograd, Saratov and Moscow will participate – the biotechnological platform will be formed by the institutes of the Pushchina Scientific Center, and the technological base for the development of the electronic part of the project will be NIU MIET, Zelenograd Innovation and Technology Center, the electronic industry enterprises of Zelenograd. "The beginning of a large project, we can say, was the Federal target Program "Scientific and scientific-pedagogical personnel of innovative Russia". For 3 million rubles allocated under the program, important studies were conducted, the first unique results were obtained. The most important thing is that a creative team has been created, Mikhail Gutorov said. "We plan to achieve a higher level of semiconductor sequencing, the maximum possible characteristics for the working cycle and performance of the complex as a whole, the accuracy of the recovery of the primary nucleotide sequence of the DNA under study." In his opinion, the semiconductor sequencing method will make it possible to read the human genome in a day. The developments already have two patents, writes Poisk.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru21.03.2013