Proton promises us $1,000 genome mapping by year end - CNET
Summary
At CES, scientific-equipment giant Life Technologies unveiled a DNA sequencer designed to decode an entire human genome in a day for $1,000 by the end of 2012. "This is such an amazing moment in history," said Jonathan Rothberg, founder and CEO of Ion Torrent (a subsidiary of Life Technologies and developer of the sequencer), by phone on the eve of CES. Rothberg, a frenetic character featured on the cover of Forbes a year ago when Life Technologies launched his Personal Genome Machine, soon became the proud father of the fastest-selling DNA sequencer on the market. To this end, Ion Torrent is working with Carnegie Mellon University to develop open-source "doctor-in-a-box" software to help speed up the interpretation of the vast amount of genetic data. But if the Proton cost really does come down to $1,000 per genome by years end, it could leave Illumina, whose current per-genome price tag is $4,000, in the proverbial (if not sequenceable) dust.