I loved seeing the recent Xconomy story about A Wowser Moment in DNA Sequencing – yes, getting close to that thousand dollar genome.
As a reminder, the thousand dollar genome is the idea that the cost to read the complete genetic sequence of an individual would be less than $1,000. An added goal is that it should be done for that price on-demand, and within a day. This excludes the case of a million dollar budget to sequence 1,000 peoples’ genomes over six months. This is about machinery that can be used in clinical settings the way labs process many urine or blood tests today.
This is also different than the services from 23andMe, Navigenics (and others) that offer a panel of specific genetic tests for a few dozen or few hundred specific genetic markers (eg for heart disease or Alzheimer susceptibility etc).
I first blogged about this here, in 2008. At that time I suggested it would take 10 years. About a year ago I mused that this was “not yet on the horizon”. I did say that “when it happens it will feel like it was overnight and will accelerate major changes in healthcare very quickly”. That part, at least, remains accurate. These are going to result in major shifts over the next decade.
What do you think, will you have your genome sequenced by 2020?
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