genome sequencing

The price of human genome sequencing has fallen spectacularly since the turn of the century; what then cost $100,000,000 is now promised for only $1000. This race toward zero makes even Moore's Law look like a snail's pace, but the $1000 price tag does come with a couple asterisks. For one, providers will need high demand to pay off the multi-million dollar sequencing array that makes it possible, and low demand should result in higher prices.  For two, $1000 will only buy you a rough draft of your genome. On Discovering Biology in a Digital World, Todd Smith writes "While some sequencing…

Part IV. Assembling the details and making the case for a novel paramyxovirus This is the fourth in a five part series on an unexpected discovery of a paramyxovirus in a mosquito. In this part, we take a look at all the evidence we can find and try to figure out how a gene from a virus came to be part of the Aedes aegypti genome. image from the Public Health Library I. The back story from the genome record II. What do the mumps proteins do? And how do we find out? III. Serendipity strikes when we Blink. IV. Assembling the details of the case for a novel mosquito paramyxovirus V. A…

One of my readers asked: Why does genome sequencing cost so much? My short answer is because it's big. But I thought it would be fun to give a better answer to this question, especially since I'm sure many of you are wondering the same thing. Okay, so let's do some math. Don't worry, this math isn't very complicated and I'll explain where most of the numbers come from. Estimating costs from salaries First, we'll take the easy route. My experience with grant budgets has taught me that the greatest cost for any project comes from salaries. If we look at the PLoS paper with Craig Venter's…