Block copolymer nanoparticles as nanobeads for the polymerase chain reaction

New sequencing technologies based on massively parallel signature sequencing (MPSS) have been developed to reduce the cost of genome sequencing. In some current MPSS platforms, DNA-modified micrometer-scale beads are used to template the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Reducing the size of the beads to nanoscale can lead to significant improvements in sequencing throughput. To this end, we have assembled polymeric nanobeads that efficiently template PCR, resulting in DNA-decorated "nanobeads" with a high extent of functionalization.