|
|
|
|
|
|
by east2west
4140 days ago
|
|
|
The human genome project certainly was overhypered and had underdelivered on its biomedical benefits. You should look for articles, even in science press, about the 10th anniversary of the human genome project; it was not all roses, to say the least. In fact they were quite frank about it. The main governmental proponent, the current NIH director, acknowledged it as much. HOWEVER, there is no doubt HGP is a resounding scientific success for its technological breakthrough. Genome sequencing is now a basic scientific tool in all branches of biological science. Its impact on medicine will only increase. A lot of the recent crop of newly FDA approved drugs can be traced to genomic insights. One good thing coming from HGP for the general public and journalists, I have noticed, is that they have more discernment regarding scientists' promises. Trust, but verify. There is a snowball's chance in hell that NIH will see a substantial budget increase in this decade, or the next for that matter. BTW, that $1000 human genome sequencing claim is not believed by most scientists. Lawyers can argue it, especially Illumina's, but not according to common sense. |
|
|
http://www.genome.gov/images/content/cost_genome.jpg
It's around 5k for whole genome sequencing atm and some googling showed that you can do exome sequencing for a lot cheaper (it's a very small fraction of human DNA).
This guy seems to think that the flattening of the tail on that graph is due to Illumina not having enough competition rather than being due to technical limitations at the moment.
http://www.synthesis.cc/2014/02/time-for-new-cost-curves-201...
Full Disclosure: I hold shares in Illumina.