IEEE Spectrum February, 2010 - Cover4

the data

i

N thE space of a single decade,
the cost of mapping all your DNA
will fall from the billions of dollars
to the thousands. the human
genome is becoming a commodity
virtually overnight. it's as if millions
of households could have had
dishwashers and vacuum cleaners
10 years after James Watt built his
steam engine.
DNA, the "code of life," is the
ultimate binary file, a database of
12 billion bits. the data-6 billion
matching sets of either the molecules
adenine (A) and thymine (t) or
guanine (G) and cytosine (c)-affect
everything that makes you you: the
color of your eyes, whether you're
moody or cheerful, and which
diseases you're most susceptible to.
today you can purchase your
very own personal genome for
uS $48 000 from illumina, a San
Diego biotech firm (and they'll throw
in an Apple imac). [See "the $100
Genome," elsewhere in this issue.]
that's a bit pricey if all you want to do
is check out the genetic inheritance
of Saturday's dinner date. but by
2014, your genome will cost a mere
$2500, according to tSG partners, an
Atlanta-based life sciences advisory
firm, so low that health insurance
companies might pick up the tab just
to get their hands on the data. the
current head of the personal Genome
project, George church, thinks it
will soon be far cheaper than that-
perhaps even less than the
dinner itself.
-Mark Anderson

om
er gen
Cost p

)
e (Us $

00
0
0
0
0
0
00
2004 $3
00
0
0
0
0
0
2006 $6
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
2007 $
0
0
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8
4
$
0
1
20
proje

Ction

one

gen

om

1

es

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ppe

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1
1
75
pro

jeC

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5000
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2012
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2014 $2
0
proje

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two

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100 0
00
0 1 000
2014 $10
000

00
2012 $5

wo

illustration: Christian anthony/istoCkphoto

The Road to the
Personal Genome

Sources: TSG Partners, Atlanta (projection one) George
Church, Harvard Medical School (projection two).

68

NA * iEEE SpEctrum * fEbruAry 2010

spectrum.ieee.org



http://spectrum.ieee.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Spectrum February, 2010

IEEE Spectrum February, 2010 - Cover1
IEEE Spectrum February, 2010 - Cover2
IEEE Spectrum February, 2010 - 1
IEEE Spectrum February, 2010 - 2
IEEE Spectrum February, 2010 - 3
IEEE Spectrum February, 2010 - 4
IEEE Spectrum February, 2010 - 5
IEEE Spectrum February, 2010 - 6
IEEE Spectrum February, 2010 - 7
IEEE Spectrum February, 2010 - 8
IEEE Spectrum February, 2010 - 9
IEEE Spectrum February, 2010 - 10
IEEE Spectrum February, 2010 - 11
IEEE Spectrum February, 2010 - 12
IEEE Spectrum February, 2010 - 13
IEEE Spectrum February, 2010 - 14
IEEE Spectrum February, 2010 - 15
IEEE Spectrum February, 2010 - 16
IEEE Spectrum February, 2010 - 17
IEEE Spectrum February, 2010 - 18
IEEE Spectrum February, 2010 - 19
IEEE Spectrum February, 2010 - 20
IEEE Spectrum February, 2010 - 21
IEEE Spectrum February, 2010 - 22
IEEE Spectrum February, 2010 - 23
IEEE Spectrum February, 2010 - 24
IEEE Spectrum February, 2010 - 25
IEEE Spectrum February, 2010 - 26
IEEE Spectrum February, 2010 - 27
IEEE Spectrum February, 2010 - 28
IEEE Spectrum February, 2010 - 29
IEEE Spectrum February, 2010 - 30
IEEE Spectrum February, 2010 - 31
IEEE Spectrum February, 2010 - 32
IEEE Spectrum February, 2010 - 33
IEEE Spectrum February, 2010 - 34
IEEE Spectrum February, 2010 - 35
IEEE Spectrum February, 2010 - 36
IEEE Spectrum February, 2010 - 37
IEEE Spectrum February, 2010 - 38
IEEE Spectrum February, 2010 - 39
IEEE Spectrum February, 2010 - 40
IEEE Spectrum February, 2010 - 41
IEEE Spectrum February, 2010 - 42
IEEE Spectrum February, 2010 - 43
IEEE Spectrum February, 2010 - 44
IEEE Spectrum February, 2010 - 45
IEEE Spectrum February, 2010 - 46
IEEE Spectrum February, 2010 - 47
IEEE Spectrum February, 2010 - 48
IEEE Spectrum February, 2010 - Cover3
IEEE Spectrum February, 2010 - Cover4
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