Scarcely a week ago, a leading genomics company, Illumina, announced it could sequence a human genome for the new, low price of $1,000. This week attendees at a personalized medicine conference heard a Silicon Valley startup say it would get the price down to $100.
Either price is a steep drop from the $2 million it cost in 2007 to sequence the genome of DNA discoverer James Watson, PhD. Illumina, a San Diego-based company (and one of Stanford's partner in a just-funded stem cell genomics center), claimed the $1,000 price in a Jan. 14 announcement on its latest sequencer model. CEO Jay Flatley said the achievement shows that science has "broken the sound barrier" in the race to make genome sequencing affordable for medical care.
Speaking Monday at the sixth annual Personalized Medicine World Conference in Mountain View, Calif., Flatley predicted that genome sequencing would one day become so widely used in bedside medical care that it would be regarded as a "molecular stethoscope."
Skeptics at the conference questioned whether a $1,000 genome test could include all the interpretation and analysis necessary to make the raw data useful for patients. But within minutes of the question, another company stepped up to say it was already working on a test that would lower the cost even more to $100.
"At $100, you get to be really competitive," said Stefan Roever, CEO of Genia Technologies, a startup based in Mountain View, during a panel presentation at the conference. Genia is using a different method, called nanopore-based sequencing. The start-up was part of a consortium with Harvard Medical School and Columbia University that won a $5.25 million grant in September from the National Human Genome Research Institute to develop the technology.
The PMWC conference was a mix of academic researchers, companies commercializing the genomics, and venture capitalists checking out the new crop of start-ups. Stanford was represented by Stephen Quake, PhD, professor of bioengineering; George Sledge, MD, professor of medicine; and a multitude of others. Also making presentations were LeRoy Hood, MD, PhD, head of the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, and Eric Green, MD, PhD, director of the National Human Genome Research Institute.
Amir Dan Rubin, president and CEO of Stanford Hospital & Clinics, gave a keynote talk at the start of the conference. Stanford Hospital & Clinics was one of the cosponsors of the conference, held Jan. 27-28 at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View.
Donna Alvarado is a Bay Area-based writer and editor who volunteers at the Stanford Health Library and finds inspiration in medical and health topics.
Previously: Stanford researchers work to translate genetic discoveries into widespread personalized medicine, Whole-genome fetal sequencing recognized as one of the year's "10 Breakthrough Technologies", New recommendations for genetic disclosure released and Ask Stanford Med: Genetics chair answers your questions on genomics and personalized medicine
Photo by rondostar
