“Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is a molecule that contains the biological instructions that make each species unique.”
National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI)
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DNA is composed of four types of chemical building block represented by the letters A, C, G and T. Here at Blocksford Brickopore, we took this literally and decided we could represent a DNA molecule with connected Lego bricks chosen from four colours corresponding to the four different DNA nucleotides.
A DNA sequencer “reads” a molecule of DNA to generate the sequence of As, Cs, Gs and Ts that it encodes. In a nanopore sequencer, this is performed by passing a DNA molecule through a tiny hole called a nanopore. As the molecule moves through the pore, a sensor can detect which of the bases (A, C, G or T) is passing through.
![](https://i0.wp.com/brickopore.co.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/pore_3.png?resize=640%2C480)
![](https://i0.wp.com/brickopore.co.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/pore_2.png?resize=640%2C480)
Our Brickopore sequencer works in the same way – the Lego bricks are passed through a hole and a sensor detects the colour of each brick as it moves through. The series of colours is then converted to a sequence of letters.