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.