Helicos BioSciences has developed the first single-molecule DNA sequencer out on the market.

Its machine reads individual letters from single molecules of DNA without requiring it to be “amplified” (copied into multiple, identical strands).

The amplification step can introduce errors into the sequence and does not work well for some DNA fragments, making it difficult to sequence a genome’s full complement of DNA. By avoiding these complications, single-molecule approaches may reduce the time and cost of sequencing.

The firm estimates that their machine could sequence a human genome for about $72,000, taking eight weeks to complete it.