Sequencing outfits sign up for $60M genome project

John Carroll — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 19:28:27 -0400

Three top DNA sequencing companies--454 Life Sciences, Illumina and Applied Biosystems--have joined forces with the 1000 Genomes project, putting their technology to work mapping the human genome with far greater precision and speed than ever witnessed before. By mapping at least 1,000 different genomes, researchers with the $60 million effort say they'll gain a much more precise view of the genetic variations that exist between people--which will highlight important variations for medical research work.

"The additional sequencing capacity and expertise provided by the three companies in the pilot phase will enable us to explore the human genome with even greater depth and speed than we had originally envisioned, and will help us to optimize the design of the full study to follow," said Richard Durbin, Ph.D., of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, who is co-chair of the consortium. "It is a win-win arrangement for all involved. The companies will gain an exciting opportunity to test their technologies on hundreds of samples of human DNA, and the project will obtain data and insight to achieve its goals in a more efficient and cost-effective manner than we could without their help."

- read the release

Four companies lead genome sequencing race

Tue, 09 Oct 2007 06:59:59 -0400

Whatever else could be said about the controversial J. Craig Venter, you could never claim that the scientist thinks small. With a story circulating in the Guardian that Venter's institute has created artificial life in the form of a fully synthetic chromosome--a report that has raised eyebrows and some skepticism--Venter is also beavering away at moving the goal posts in the quest for a more commercially feasible method to decode DNA. Only last summer Venter heralded his genetic blueprint after spending years and $60 million to do it. Now he's set out to do it again by the end of December for the bargain basement price of less than $300,000--major progress in a race to drive the price down to less than $10,000.

The Wall Street Journal examined the chances of four leading contenders competing for a $10 million prize--Venter is putting up $500,000--in hitting that target: Illumina, Applied Biosystems, 454 Life Sciences and Helicos BioSciences. The original program to decode the human genome cost $3 billion, but getting the cost down to a matter of thousands of dollars could open a new era of personalized medicine that would revolutionize the way therapies are prescribed.

- read the Wall Street Journal article on sequencing (sub. req.)
- and here's a dose of skepticism on the latest news regarding artificial life

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