Graphs Show Costs of DNA Sequencing Falling Fast 126
kkleiner writes "You may know that the cost to sequence a human genome is dropping, but you probably have no idea how fast that price is coming down. The National Human Genome Research Institute, part of the US National Institute of Health, has compiled extensive data on the costs of sequencing DNA over the past decade and used that information to create two truly jaw-dropping graphs. NHGRI's research shows that not only are sequencing costs plummeting, they are outstripping the exponential curves of Moore's Law. By a big margin."
Re:Great! (Score:4, Insightful)
Sequencing has been where the focus on cost has been going. It doesn't make much sense to try and reduce the cost of analysis when it takes a very long time and a huge amount of money to accomplish. The graph was hard to read, but at this point with the cost well over $10k there's a lot more that has to be done before analysis is worth spending a lot of time economizing.
But as it gets cheaper more and more of the focus will be on the analysis side. And the cost of analysis will come down, given that insurance isn't going to cover the sequencing at this point, analysis is moot in most cases. As more research analyzes sequenced DNA I'm sure tricks and such will be discovered to bring the cost down. But right now you're dealing with low volumes and as such cost is higher than it will be with higher volumes.