The INQUIRER staff writes, “PRINTER COMPANY Canon has unveiled a technique based on its inkjet technology that will allow for cheap mass production of DNA chips.

DNA chips are used to trace diseases and, according to a report on Nihon Keizai Shimbun, the technology, likely to be ready in two years’ time, will cut the price of production by 90 per cent.

The technology uses a solution of DNA rather than ink and sprays that onto glass in a precise way.

Canon has already demonstrated a prototype that produced some hundreds of DNA chips, which currently are being made using expensive semiconductor tech.

Prices of these current chips are around one million yen, the newspaper reports.

Friday 04 April 2003, 09:51