MR series
| MR series | |
|---|---|
 The MR1 Molecular Streaming Device, ten times over, in an image from the company's marketing page. The ten devices are copies of one photograph. | |
| Developer | Molecular Reality Corporation |
| Type | Nanopore instruments ("molecular streaming devices") |
| Predecessor | demonpore 64 |
The MR series is the name Molecular Reality Corporation gives to its family of nanopore instruments, which it calls molecular streaming devices; "MR" stands for Molecular Reality. Two different instruments have been called MR1: the MR1 Molecular Streaming Device, a handheld prototype, and the MR1 Nanopore Reader, an open desktop design released in October 2026 before any unit had been built and measured.[1] The company's plans name three successors, each defined by how many pores it would read at once: MR2, a 64-pore array it calls the "Molecular PC"; MR3, with thousands of pores; and MR4, with tens of thousands to millions.[2] None of the three has been built, and the company gives no dates for them.
Name
The company's About page introduces the family in one sentence: "Our MR series of molecular streaming devices use nanopores to analyze cells and molecules, creating distinctive electrical signals as molecules transit through tiny pores."[3] The letters also form the monogram of the company's hexagonal logo, which first appears in a banner file dated January 10, 2026.[2]
The series descends from the demonpore 64, the prototype reader of 2020 and 2021 that was styled as a 1980s games console. Kent Kemmish's CV describes him supervising "the MR Molecular Streaming Device (formerly demonpore 64)".[4] An undated company flyer headed "We're on an epic quest." begins "Introducing the MR series of Molecular Streaming Devices", shows a console with a wood-grain front and a row of colored reagent tubes under a starburst reading "Just one possible form factor!", and adds in a footnote that the device "is strictly a scientific research tool; it is not intended to diagnose or treat any disease."[5]
The company's quest board once offered 700,000 experience points each for two quests about the series: "MR series design development", described as "Designing, building, shipping molecular streaming devices in the MR series", and "MR firmware development". Both had been switched off by October 2026.[6] In May 2026 the instructions for the company's chatbot stated: "We are not ready to ship MR series Molecular Streaming Devices".[2]
Models
| Model | Pores | Status |
|---|---|---|
| MR1 Molecular Streaming Device | 1 | Handheld prototype; no shipments recorded |
| MR1 Nanopore Reader | 1 | Open design, version 1.0.0 (October 16, 2026); "Built and measured: not yet" |
| MR2 ("Molecular PC") | 64 | Planned |
| MR3 | Thousands | Planned |
| MR4 | Tens of thousands to millions | Planned |
MR1
The first MR1 was a red handheld unit "about the size of a large smartphone", built around an ESP32-S3 microcontroller and an LMP7721 amplifier, with a fluid cell that snaps onto its top. The company gave its price as $300, planned "an initial batch of around 50 units", and offered its 3D-printed case in "various colors including lapis lazuli".[2] Its field guide of August 2026 calls it "one of several prototypes the team has built over the years, a citizen science device that carries the electronics we tested in earlier rigs".[7]
The second MR1 is a stack of four modules: a pump module, a reader board that samples the current 100,000 times a second, an amplifier under the cartridge, and a cartridge holding a silicon chip 4 by 4 mm. It uses the same microcontroller and amplifier chip as the handheld. The design was released under the GNU Affero General Public License on October 16, 2026. Much of its code still called it "Daemon Pore" or "Sentinel" until a commit two days later: "refactor: Rename Daemon Pore/Sentinel to MR1 across codebase".[8][9] Its status line reads "Designed. Simulated. Built and measured: not yet."[10] On October 21 another commit placed the whole project in the public domain under CC0 1.0.[11]
MR2 and MR3
In company records MR2 is a 64-pore array. In 2026 Kemmish wrote that the company still wanted to ship a product much like the demonpore 64 under that name, "but it will be at least a 64-channel device".[12] For comparison, a MinION flow cell from Oxford Nanopore Technologies records from up to 512 channels at once.
The company's quiz dungeon, The Disclosure Crawl, presents the later models as a prophecy. In its Oracle's Chamber, a room titled "The Device Prophecy" announces "MR2 & MR3: The 'Molecular PC' Era", and Keltar, looking into a crystal ball, says: "The MR1 is the ACORN, remember? Here's the mighty oak!" The room describes MR2 as a "Multi-Pore Desktop Unit" with a "100-1000 nanopore array", more pores than company records give it. Each question in the room's quiz is worth about 0.06 experience points.[13]
MR4
Company records describe MR4 as "High-density arrays: tens of thousands to millions of pores".[2] It is the model closest in scale to the company's larger goal, utility-scale molecular sensing. The 2022 document that set out the goal places detectors "in air handling systems, toilets, and drains",[14] and the field guide of August 2026 states the distance in two sentences: "Today we have one instrument in one lab. Utility scale means billions of quiet sensors doing for the molecular world what weather stations did for the atmosphere."[7]
See also
References
- ^ Ferris Calloway (October 23, 2026). "There Are Two MR1s and That Is Fine". Debye Length.
- ^ a b c d e "Company records". Molecular Reality Corporation. October 2026.
- ^ "Join Kemmishtree in our Club to Cure All Diseases". Molecular Reality Corporation. Retrieved October 25, 2026.
- ^ "Stanley Kent Kemmish, Jr." Molecular Reality Corporation. May 2026.
- ^ "We're on an epic quest" (Flyer). Molecular Reality Corporation.
- ^ "Quests". EQBio-OS. Molecular Reality Corporation. Retrieved October 25, 2026.
- ^ a b "Keltar's Field Guide to Molecular Reality". Molecular Reality Corporation. August 2026.
- ^ "MR1 Nanopore Reader". GitHub. October 16, 2026.
- ^ "refactor: Rename Daemon Pore/Sentinel to MR1 across codebase" (commit
2c06333). EpicQuestBio/MR1. October 18, 2026. - ^ Dev Okonkwo-Hale (October 17, 2026). "Molecular Reality Open-Sources a Nanopore Reader It Has Not Built Yet". The Picoampere.
- ^ "Relicense project to Public Domain under CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0-1.0)" (commit
a52fc0b). EpicQuestBio/MR1. October 21, 2026. - ^ Kemmishtree (March 28, 2026). "2022 sci-tech overview". EQBio-OS.
- ^ "Dungeons & Diligence: The Disclosure Crawl, Level 6: The Oracle's Chamber". Molecular Reality Corporation. April 2026.
- ^ "Our North Star: Utility-Scale Molecular Sensing". Molecular Reality Corporation. 2022.