by jurvetson
Genome sequencing: the third generation:
[Via News at Nature – Most Recent]
Companies unveil data from their latest technologies.
A meeting about new approaches to sequencing the human (or any other species) genome. Some of these sound pretty fantastic. One company claims to be able to sequence human genomes for $5000. In 8 days around Christmas, they assembled 254 billion bases of DNA data to create a draft sequence covering 92% of the genome. By June the cost will be $1000 and that they expect to sequence 20,000 by next year. Since little data, it is probably good to be a little skeptical.
Another group presented data on a method they claim will be able to produce entire human genome sequences in 3 minutes. Lets see about 3 billion bases in 180 seconds is 17 million bases a second. Wow.
Sounds like lots of possibilities in the next year. But some current companies are having troubles with large numbers of errors and reproducibility. With something as potentially important as a person’s genetic sequence, errors can have huge ramifications, both personal and financial.
Technorati Tags: Science, Technology
A Man With A Ph.D. 
Which gourp claimed to be able to produce entire human genomes in 3 minutes??
Pacific Biosciences was discussing this. Here is the relevant quote:
“Pacific Biosciences uses a single-molecule technology with DNA polymerase, the enzyme used by cells to assemble DNA strands, that reads out the product of the sequencing reaction as it progresses. Although its current machines read 3 bases per second, it aims to produce entire human genomes in under three minutes by 2013.”