What is our technological approach?
The future of personalised medicine relies on the timely, cost-effective and accurate detection of nucleic acid sequences. Nanovery has created a DNA nanorobot platform that provides precise biomarker quantification with a simple and robust workflow to improve patient outcomes and aid drug development.
What is a nanorobot?
Constructed entirely from synthetic DNA and operating at the nanoscale, DNA nanorobots are are rationally designed to perform an array of functions in response to the presence of a specific nucleic acid of interest, resulting in a measurable fluorescent signal.
A biomarker signifies a change in a biological process that has meaning to us. We are witnessing the gains resulting from the era of sequencing and profiling, which has uncovered a vast landscape of biomarkers based on nucleic acids such as DNA and RNA. At Nanovery, we are developing nanorobots that can readily detect trace amounts of these biomarkers in challenging samples.
How do Nanovery nanorobots work?
DNA Nanorobots are the interface of biology and computing. In simple terms, a nanorobot is a nanometer-scale machine that can perform useful functions. A Nanovery nanorobot is capable of using a biomarker sequence as an input, achieving high levels of amplification in a short amount of time to give sensitive and accurate quantification.
If you were to look closely you would see a tiny machine built from synthetic DNA that has been programmed to enact functions that might be familiar to hardware engineers; this includes recognition, signal processing such as amplification, and optical response. These functions are optimised for biomarker detection and quantification by programmers and a team of multidisciplinary scientists. The resulting technology has a complex back-end but a simple front-end for the benefit of users. Our nanorobots are built using biomarker science bioinformatics, nanotechnology, artificial intelligence and synthetic biology.
Nanorobots advantages
Our solution is based on a patented enzyme-free amplification technology that reduces error whilst being incredibly easy to operate.
DNA nanorobots perform enzyme-free biomarker quantification in complex biological samples, operate at room temperature and are amenable to high-throughout low-cost detection. This novel technology platform is also highly versatile. Depending on the medical professional's or research scientist's needs, DNA nanorobots can be tailored to perform biomarker detection to suit the desired application.
DNA nanorobots are comprised of multiple modules, each instructed to carry out a distinct function; sequential module addition permits biomarkers to be captured and stabilised before quantification several hours later, upon the addition of subsequent modules.
This is why our product is made to slot into existing instrumentation and rely on minimal sample preparation steps. All that is required is a simple plate reader for a fluorescence read-out that directly quantifies the original amount of DNA or RNA.
The relationship between biomarker concentration and fluorescence output can be either endpoint or rate-dependent. Additionally, the dynamic range can be tuned to a particular window to optimise the clinical utility of the selected biomarker and disease combination.
The underlying mechanism that powers DNA nanorobots is dynamic and reversible. This provides excellent selectivity and the ability for single nucleotide variation detection.
miRNA Assay Development
Though our platform can address any nucleic acid sequence, our current product development focuses on short RNAs such as microRNAs (miRNAs). miRNAs are stable in blood serum and are showing promise for ‘liquid biopsy’ applications and drug development.
Changes in miRNA expression require a highly sensitive and accurate quantification technique to measure. Nanovery can provide the best tools for your work and remove errors due to extension steps. If you are interested in learning more about our assay development service
Explore Latest Highlights
We are a data-driven company using DNA nanotechnology and AI to scale up testing of nucleic acids for powerful insights from valuable samples.