The thousand-dollar genome: the competition has too high a bar

The annual geneticist competition was canceled a week before the start

ABC Magazine based on New Scientist: X Prize for genomes cancelled before it begins2 weeks before the start, the organizers of the annual competition of geneticists and researchers Archon Genomics XPRIZE decided to cancel the competition.

According to the president of the X Prize Foundation, Peter Diamandis, the competition was canceled because its requirements are ahead of even the latest innovations.

Recall that for the first time Archon Genomics XPRIZE started 7 years ago, when geneticists from all over the world were asked to develop a method for sequencing 100 human genomes in 30 days with high accuracy and at minimal cost. The cost of decoding one genome in this case should not exceed 1 thousand US dollars. And if some companies could still cope with this condition, then the requirements for accuracy of decryption led them to a dead end. The terms of the competition allow for the presence of only 1 error per 1 million nitrogenous bases. But modern technologies do not yet provide such high sequencing accuracy.

One of the pioneers of the development of genome sequencing, Craig Venter, is disappointed that even the prize promised to the winner – 10 million US dollars – did not interest scientists and geneticists. Only 2 teams applied for participation in the competition this year. At the same time, the development of genome decoding technology with the parameters declared by the competition – speed, low cost and high accuracy – is not only a whim of the organizers. Venter emphasizes that in the very near future medicine will be in dire need of such a technique so that genome sequencing becomes a routine clinical analysis, like a blood test.

However, genetic researchers are confident that over time they will achieve the necessary parameters even without such an incentive as the Archon Genomics XPRIZE prize, since the medical market dictates this need for them. It's just that the time for such a breakthrough has not yet come.

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru30.08.2013