Researcher Samuel Afuwape of San Diego's National University said such a portable DNA sequencer could make life easier for environmental scientists testing contaminated sites. Clinicians and medical researchers might also use such a device to diagnose genetic disorders and study problems in genetics. A similar sensor might also be used to identify the weapons of a bioterrorist or in criminal forensic investigations.

While DNA biosensors are becoming ubiquitous in many areas, Afuwape said the instrumentation is usually limited to the laboratory setting. He suggests a new type of electronic device, the ion-selective field-effect transistor, or ISFET, might be integrated into a DNA biosensor. Such a portable sensor would be coated with thousands of known DNA sequences that could match -- hybridize -- with specific DNA fragments in a given medical or environmental sample.

The complex research appears in the International Journal of Nanotechnology.