Portable Automated Solution for the Library Preparation for Sequencing

The MinION is a portable device for the genetic sequencing of nucleic acids (NA). The sequencing process is fully automated. However, preparing the NA libraries for MinION sequencing is excruciatingly manual. We are presently two months into a NASA-funded Phase I project to simplify the MinION sample prep for on-orbit genetic sequencing. So far, we have integrated the lysis and extraction steps into a single microfluidic card. These, plus NA fragmentation, nick repair, adapter ligation, and final buffering will all be incorporated by Feb 2024. However, this end-to-end sample prep microfluidic system will lack the mechanical and thermal actuation to make the system fully automatic. This will be the focus of this DTRA project.