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Slides containing DNA sit in a bay waiting to be analyzed by a genome sequencing machine.

Slides containing DNA sit in a bay waiting to be analyzed by a genome sequencing machine.

Ever since James Watson and Francis Crick cracked the genetic code, scientists have been fascinated by the possibilities of what we might learn from reading our genes.

But the power of DNA has also long raised fears such as those dramatized in the 1997 sci-fi film Gattaca, which depicted a world where "a minute drop of blood determines where you can work, who you should marry, what you're capable of achieving."

That was science fiction. Just three years later, President Bill Clinton announced that the once-futuristic dream of reading someone's entire genetic code their genome had become a reality. It took hundreds of scientists nearly a decade to painstakingly piece together the first real look at the entire human genetic blueprint. It cost $3 billion just to make that rough draft.

Twelve years later, the cost of deciphering a person's genetic instructions has dropped faster than the price of flat-screen TVs. And the sequencing can be done much quicker.

Over the past decade, the cost of sequencing a human-sized genome has dropped dramatically. Since 2008, those cost reductions have outpaced Moore's Law, a famous forecast predicting the doubling of computing power every two years. Technology that keeps pace with Moore's Law is thought to be in good shape.

Instead of years, it can take just weeks. Instead of an army of scientists, all it takes is a new high-speed sequencing machine and a few lab techs. Instead of billions, it can cost as little as $4,000. And many are predicting the $1,000 genome is coming soon.

"It's incredible to me today to see how far we've advanced," said Robert Blakesley, who directs the National Institutes of Health's Intramural Sequencing Center.

Read the original post:
As Genetic Sequencing Spreads, Excitement, Worries Grow

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