llumina’s HiSeq 2000 genetic sequencing instrument. — Provided by Illumina
Illumina dropped the price of human genome sequencing to $4000 in May, 2011
The new price is for individuals who are part of a group of at least 50 people who are sequenced for research purposes using Illumina’s HiSeq machines at the company’s laboratory in Sorrento Valley or facilities operated by partners, the National Center for Genome Resources in Santa Fe, N.M., and the Genomic Medicine Institute in Seoul, South Korea. Groups of 10 to 49 will be charged $5,000 for each sequence, Illumina said.
Ion Torrent has described a $1000 whole genome sequencer for 2013.
Helicos Biosciences, Pacific Biosciences, Complete Genomics, Illumina, Sequenom, ION Torrent Systems, Halcyon Molecular, IBM, and GE Global appear to all be going head to head in the race to commercialize full genome sequencing
NATURE – An integrated semiconductor device enabling non-optical genome sequencing
The seminal importance of DNA sequencing to the life sciences, biotechnology and medicine has driven the search for more scalable and lower-cost solutions. Here we describe a DNA sequencing technology in which scalable, low-cost semiconductor manufacturing techniques are used to make an integrated circuit able to directly perform non-optical DNA sequencing of genomes. Sequence data are obtained by directly sensing the ions produced by template-directed DNA polymerase synthesis using all-natural nucleotides on this massively parallel semiconductor-sensing device or ion chip. The ion chip contains ion-sensitive, field-effect transistor-based sensors in perfect register with 1.2 million wells, which provide confinement and allow parallel, simultaneous detection of independent sequencing reactions. Use of the most widely used technology for constructing integrated circuits, the complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) process, allows for low-cost, large-scale production and scaling of the device to higher densities and larger array sizes. We show the performance of the system by sequencing three bacterial genomes, its robustness and scalability by producing ion chips with up to 10 times as many sensors and sequencing a human genome.
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Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
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