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lunchbox

Here is a graph that shows the fall in human genome sequencing costs over time:

http://www.genome.gov/images/content/cost_per_genome.jpg

It's surpassing Moore's law. Looks like pretty soon we'll reach the mythical $1000 mark.

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What was it that caused such a rapid change after 2007?

If I remember correctly, in 2007, the Sanger method for sequencing (which involves nucleotide-by-nucleotide, laborious, gel-based sequencing) was quickly replaced by cheaper methods. We started using laser-based sequencers, along with statistics, to determine longer sequences quicker, and using computers instead of legions of grad students.

If I had to guess, it'd be the rise of distributed computing.

Illumina acquired Solexa, and shipped the first Genome Analyzer (the ancestor of the HiSeq). Clive Brown was a central figure at Solexa during their rise and acquisition, and has been at Oxford Nanopore for the last few years (he's the one who gave the talk).

There's a lot of hype in genomics, but Brown is one of the few who has delivered, which is part of the reason why MinION is getting the benefit of the doubt. Very exciting announcement.

There are various versions of this graph floating around, most of which start in 2005 with the publication of the first next-generation (multiplexed) sequencing methods by pyrosequencing (454) and sequencing by ligation (George Church) for complete bacterial genomes. Costs came down very quickly after commercial release in 2006 of 454, ABI Solid (SbL), and Solexa (SbS-sequencing by synthesis). This graph in particular is referring to the cost of sequencing a human genome, which was first done on James Watson using these next generation technologies by 454 in late 2007 if I remember correctly.

Isn't $900 less than $1,000?

Edit: err... DNA verus genome nevermind I see what you meant.

The keyword is human genome, not some other organism. Also the $900 product has not been released yet.

Soon they'll be paying us for our DNA! (for targeted advertisement etc.)

any idea where to get that data raw?

ftp://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genomes/

edit: Oops, you probably meant the cost graphs. You might find related graphs from Rob Carlson.

http://www.genome.gov/pages/der/sequencing_cost.xls

It's off this page: http://www.genome.gov/sequencingcosts/

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