# DNA labeling for improved synthetic long reads

> **NIH NIH R43** · ESPER BIOSCIENCES, INC. · 2020 · $329,887

## Abstract

Project Summary
 Long-read sequencing has the potential to greatly simplify sequencing, helping to accelerate scientists’
ability to perform de novo sequencing, haplotype phasing and transcriptomics. This project aims to develop a
method to label DNA prior to next-generation sequencing, that maintains information about the proximity of
fragments in the original strand, aiding in the downstream assembly of the sequencing data. To label the DNA,
transposase will be loaded with specially-designed transposons containing barcode labels, and used to fragment
the DNA, prior to next-generation sequencing. The first aim of this project is to construct the transposomes used
to label the DNA. The second aim is to use these transposomes to tagment and sequence a model DNA system
to demonstrate read lengths of ~50 kb using next-generation sequencing on less than a picogram of DNA. If
successful, the sequencing approach developed in this grant will simplify synthetic long read sequencing, making
high-accuracy and inexpensive long read sequencing more accessible to the genetics community.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10081920
- **Project number:** 1R43HG011217-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** ESPER BIOSCIENCES, INC.
- **Principal Investigator:** Jonathan Alden
- **Activity code:** R43 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $329,887
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-09-22 → 2023-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10081920

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10081920, DNA labeling for improved synthetic long reads (1R43HG011217-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10081920. Licensed CC0.

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