In Brief
- Illumina claims its new NovaSeq sequencing machine will one day be able to sequence an entire genome for less than $100, a process that currently costs about $1,000.
- Cheaper genome sequencing could revolutionize healthcare, allowing doctors to prescribe individualized treatment options for patients.
There are an estimated 25,000 genes in the human genome, comprised of approximately 3 billion nucleotide base pairs. It took the Human Genome Project (HGP) approximately 15 years and $2.7 billion to sequence the entire human genome (minus about 1 percent) using the DNA of several volunteers.
Now, San Diego-based sequencing company Illumina has debuted a new sequencing machine, the NovaSeq (NovaSeq 5000 and NovaSeq 6000), that it says will one day be able to sequence an entire genome for less than $100 in fewer than 60 minutes. This is a steep difference in both cost and time compared to that first sequenced genome, but it follows the trend. In 2006, Illumina released their first machine, which could sequence a genome for $300,000, but by last year, that price had dropped to $1,000.
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