His team read the chemical bases of the DNA with a machine made by Illumina, the San Diego company that has led the way in decreasing the cost of DNA sequencing.
Nano bar codes are the molecular versions of traditional bar codes--metal nano-particles that have specific, recognizable chemical fingerprints that can be read by a machine, perhaps a UV lamp or optical microscope.
Daniel Schultz, the FDA's chief device regulator, says new medical devices don't need the large-scale exhaustive trials of the drug industry because it is easier to predict the behavior of a machine than it is to track the chemical interactions of a new drug in the body.
To make the machine commercial strength and add depth to his materials science knowledge, he brought in Weinberg, his onetime chemical engineering professor at the California Institute of Technology.