Contest To Sequence Centenarians Kicks Off 74
ananyo writes "The first competitor has swaggered up to the starting line for a contest that aims to push the limits of genome-sequencing technology. The X Prize Foundation of Playa Vista, California, is offering a US$10 million prize to the first team to accurately sequence the genomes of 100 people aged 100 or older, for $1,000 or less apiece and within 30 days. Ion Torrent, part of Life Technologies of Carlsbad, California, believes that its semiconductor-based technology gives it a shot, and on 23 July it announced that it will compete. The Archon Genomics X Prize competition, to be held in September 2013, is intended to spur technology, boost accuracy and drive down costs — currently $3,000–5,000 per genome. Peter Diamandis, the X Prize Foundation's chief executive, says that the contest will help to establish a standard for a 'medical grade' genome, with the high accuracy needed to diagnose or treat a patient. This time, the X prize Foundation has relaxed the time frame, allowing competitors 30 days — rather than the 10 specified by the 2006 contest — and focused on centenarians, who might carry gene variants promoting longevity. The winning team will be the first to sequence all 100 genomes to 98% completion, with less than one error per million base pairs, and to determine which variants appear on which of the paired chromosomes."
Re:Margin of Error (Score:5, Funny)
Hopefully, they all told truth about their age [museumofhoaxes.com]...
Assuming they were telling the truth, it would mean that people in that village actually age at a much faster rate than non-residents. One man from that village was 122 years old in 1971, and three year later, he was already 134! So yes, you die much older there, but your clock is going to be ticking really fast down there. Better hurry!
Re:Margin of Error (Score:5, Funny)
Hopefully, they all told truth about their age [museumofhoaxes.com]...
Assuming they were telling the truth, it would mean that people in that village actually age at a much faster rate than non-residents. One man from that village was 122 years old in 1971, and three year later, he was already 134! So yes, you die much older there, but your clock is going to be ticking really fast down there. Better hurry!
Human overclocking! That's what this project is all about!