GnuBio: Whole Genome Sequencing for $30

01 Jun 2010

• By Mark Ratner

Say goodbye to the $1000 genome, and even the $100 genome. Thanks to a fledging start-up out of Harvard, there may be an even lower near-term benchmark. Speaking at a meeting in Boston, GnuBio described technology for doing whole-genome sequencing for as little as $30 a pop using an interation of microdroplet technology already in commercial use, out of the same lab.

Say goodbye to the $1,000 genome, and even the $100 genome. Thanks to the lab of physicist David Weitz, PhD, at Harvard University, there may now be an even lower benchmark for the viable future. Speaking on June 2 at the Second Annual Consumer Genetics Conference in Boston, Weitz told the audience he has developed technology for doing whole-genome sequencing for as little as $30 a pop – a price point quickly adopted by several subsequent panel moderators and speakers as a new reference standard by the meeting's end.

If that objective sounds ambitious, it is – especially since the fledgling company Weitz has established to pursue this, GnuBio,...