The brick-sized portable device dubbed Freedom4, which was launched in August following six years of development at the University of Otago, allows specialists to test for viruses and bacteria without the need for samples to be taken back to a lab for testing on a much larger piece of equipment.
In October it was revealed testing on the device was being fast-tracked so it could be used in the fight to contain the spread of the Ebola virus.
United States-based technology publication Wired last month included the device, which had already gained media attention around the globe, in its end of year top 10 list entitled: ''The Craziest Sci-Fi Fantasies That Got Closer to Reality This Year''.
The writer said the device brought the ideas presented in the 1997 movie Gattaca, where the hero struggles to overcome genetic discrimination to realise his dream of travelling into space, closer to reality.
''New Zealand researchers built the first hand-held DNA sequencer, which they swear is for health care diagnostics and not to keep me from my dream of one day rocketing to Saturn,'' the writer said.
The Ubiquitome company has joined the university's commercialisation arm Otago Innovation to sell the device to the world.
Ubiquitome chief executive Paul Pickering said it was pleasing to be included in the list.
''We think it's super cool to be featured in Wired's Best of 2014 alongside innovations like quantum teleportation and Google Genomics.
''We're at the beginning of a consumer-driven revolution in the availability of ubiquitous genomic information that will touch on every part of our lives in the next five to 10 years,'' he said.
