involves passing a DNA molecule through a nanoscale pore structure and then measuring changes in electrical field surrounding the pore; while Quantapore has a different proprietary nanopore approach. Stratos Genomics spaces out the DNA bases with polymeric inserts, "Xpandomers", to circumvent the signal to noise challenge of nanopore ssDNA reading.

Also notable is Helicos's single molecule fluorescence approach, but the company entered bankruptcy in the fall of 2015.