Joel Pel

Nonlinear electrophoretic response yields a unique parameter for separation of biomolecules

We demonstrate a unique parameter for biomolecule separation that results from the nonlinear response of long, charged polymers to electrophoretic fields and apply it to extraction and concentration of nucleic acids from samples that perform poorly under conventional methods. Our method is based on superposition of synchronous, time-varying electrophoretic fields, which can generate net drift of charged molecules even when the time-averaged molecule displacement generated by each field individually is zero. Such drift can only occur for molecules, such as DNA, whose motive response to electrophoretic fields is nonlinear. Consequently, we are able to concentrate DNA while rejecting high concentrations of contaminants. We demonstrate one application of this method by extracting DNA from challenging samples originating in the Athabasca oil sands.

An instrument for automated purification of nucleic acids from contaminated forensic samples

Forensic crime scene sample analysis, by its nature, often deals with samples in which there are low amounts of nucleic acids, on substrates that often lead to inhibition of subsequent enzymatic reactions such as PCR amplification for Short Tandem Repeat (STR) profiling. Common substrates include denim from blue jeans, which yields indigo dye as a PCR inhibitor, and soil, which yields humic substances as inhibitors. These inhibitors frequently co-extract with nucleic acids in standard column or bead-based preps, leading to frequent failure of STR profiling. We present a novel instrument for DNA purification of forensic samples that is capable of highly effective concentration of nucleic acids from soil particulates, fabric, and other complex samples including solid components. The novel concentration process, known as Synchronous Coefficient of Drag Alteration, is inherently selective for long-charged polymers such as DNA, and therefore is able to effectively reject known contaminants. We present an automated sample preparation instrument based on this process, and preliminary results based on mock forensic samples.

Winnowing DNA for rare sequences: highly specific sequence and methylation based enrichment.

Rare mutations in cell populations are known to be hallmarks of many diseases and cancers. Similarly, differential DNA methylation patterns arise in rare cell populations with diagnostic potential such as fetal cells circulating in maternal blood. Unfortunately, the frequency of alleles with diagnostic potential, relative to wild-type background sequence, is often well below the frequency of errors in currently available methods for sequence analysis, including very high throughput DNA sequencing. We demonstrate a DNA preparation and purification method that through non-linear electrophoretic separation in media containing oligonucleotide probes, achieves 10,000 fold enrichment of target DNA with single nucleotide specificity, and 100 fold enrichment of unmodified methylated DNA differing from the background by the methylation of a single cytosine residue.

Efficient genomic DNA extraction from low target concentration bacterial cultures using SCODA DNA extraction technology.

Methods for the extraction of nucleic acids are straightforward in instances where there is ample nucleic acid mass in the sample and contamination is minimal. However, applications in areas such as metagenomics, life science research, clinical research, and forensics, that are limited by smaller amounts of starting materials or more dilute samples, require sample preparation methods that are more efficient at extracting nucleic acids. Synchronous coefficient of drag alteration (SCODA) is a novel electrophoretic nucleic acid purification technology that has been tested successfully with both highly contaminated and dilute samples and is a promising candidate for new sample preparation challenges. In this article, as an example of SCODAs performance with limited sample material, we outline a genomic DNA (gDNA) extraction protocol from low abundance cultures of Escherichia coli DH10B. This method is equally well suited to high biomass samples.

Duplex Proximity Sequencing (Pro-Seq): A method to improve DNA sequencing accuracy without the cost of molecular barcoding redundancy

A challenge in the clinical adoption of cell-free DNA (cfDNA) liquid biopsies for cancer care is their high cost compared to potential reimbursement. The most common approach used in liquid biopsies to achieve high specificity detection of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) among a large background of normal cfDNA is to attach molecular barcodes to each DNA template, amplify it, and then sequence it many times to reach a low-error consensus. In applications where the highest possible specificity is required, error rate can be lowered further by independently detecting the sequences of both strands of the starting cfDNA. While effective in error reduction, the additional sequencing redundancy required by such barcoding methods can increase the cost of sequencing up to 100-fold over standard next-generation sequencing (NGS) of equivalent depth. We present a novel library construction and analysis method for NGS that achieves comparable performance to the best barcoding methods, but without the increase in sequencing and subsequent sequencing cost. Named Proximity-Sequencing (Pro-Seq), the method merges multiple copies of each template into a single sequencing read by physically linking the molecular copies so they seed a single sequencing cluster. Since multiple DNA copies of the same template are compared for consensus within the same cluster, sequencing accuracy is improved without the use of redundant reads. Additionally, it is possible to represent both senses of the starting duplex in a single cluster. The resulting workflow is simple, and can be completed by a single technician in a work day with minimal hands on time. Using both cfDNA and cell line DNA, we report the average per-mutation detection threshold and per-base analytical specificity to be 0.003% and >99.9997% respectively, demonstrating that Pro-Seq is among the highest performing liquid biopsy technologies in terms of both sensitivity and specificity, but with greatly reduced sequencing costs compared to existing methods of comparable accuracy.

Rapid and highly-specific generation of targeted DNA sequencing libraries enabled by linking capture probes with universal primers

Targeted Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) is being adopted increasingly broadly in many research, commercial and clinical settings. Currently used target capture methods, however, typically require complex and lengthy (sometimes multi-day) workflows that complicates their use in certain applications. In addition, small panels for high sequencing depth applications such as liquid biopsy typically have low on-target rates, resulting in unnecessarily high sequencing cost. We have developed a novel targeted sequencing library preparation method, named Linked Target Capture (LTC), which replaces typical multi-day target capture workflows with a single-day, combined ‘target-capture-PCR’ workflow. This approach uses physically linked capture probes and PCR primers and is expected to work with panel sizes from 100 bp to >10 Mbp. It reduces the time and complexity of the capture workflow, eliminates long hybridization and wash steps and enables rapid library construction and target capture. High on-target read fractions are achievable due to repeated sequence selection in the target-capture-PCR step, thus lowering sequencing cost. We have demonstrated this technology on sample types including cell-free DNA (cfDNA) and formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) derived DNA, capturing a 35-gene pan-cancer panel, and therein detecting single nucleotide variants, copy number variants, insertions, deletions and gene fusions. With the integration of unique molecular identifiers (UMIs), variants as low as 0.25% abundance were detected, limited by input mass and sequencing depth. Additionally, sequencing libraries were prepared in less than eight hours from extracted DNA to loaded sequencer, demonstrating that LTC holds promise as a broadly applicable tool for rapid, cost-effective and high performance targeted sequencing.