P.C. Shannon

Recently, Dr. James Watson, one of the co-discoverers of the structure of DNA, has his complete genome sequenced. He is the first person to have his genome completely sequenced, although Dr. J. Craig Venter, scientific iconoclast, was not far behind. The real breakthrough is not that it was done, but that it was done in two months at a cost of about $1 million. Compare that to the Human Genome project, which took 13 years and $3 billion. This massive increase in efficiency is due, in part, to the sequencing developed by companies like 454 Life Sciences. Within a few years, the cost to sequence a complete genome will fall to $100,000, and it will continue to fall by an order of magnitude every few years, so that a complete genome will cost $1000 within a decade. This price point is a huge leap towards a new era of “personalized medicine,” but there are larger ramifications as well.

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The sequencing of the human genome project took ten years and cost millions and millions of dollars. It was coordinated effort of researchers around the world. But the technology used to sequence DNA developed so quickly during the project that it finished five years ahead of schedule. And the technology continues to improve.

In fact, it generally follows Moore’s Law, which states that computer processor power will double every 18-months but has been applied to many areas of technology. As price comes down and speed and accuracy increase, some in the field have projected that in ten years, a single individual will be able to have her own genome sequenced for $1000.

That day is getting closer. A recent paper in Nature (PubMed; subscription required for summary and article) demonstrates a new sequencing technology that allows a single technician to sequence 25 million bases in just four hours. By comparison, the sequencers that I used when I worked on the Human Genome Project could each produce about 10,000 bases in the same time frame. The authors of the paper assembled an entire bacterial genome in a single run.

The advent of individualized genomic medicine will be a boon to health care, provided that safeguards are put in place to protect patients’ privacy. Otherwise, it may just further corrupt our already-crippled health insurance system.

Technology like this and the Internet always remind me of my 8th grade history teacher (who was also a football coach) who told us that, unlike every previous generation of Americans, our standard of living would not increase dramatically from what our parents experienced. It makes me chuckle.