[Ip-health] $10 Million Prize Set Up for Speedy DNA Decoding

[James Love]

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/05/science/05genome.html


$10 Million Prize Set Up for Speedy DNA Decoding

By NICHOLAS WADE
Published: October 5, 2006

A $10 million prize for cheap and rapid sequencing of the human genome was
announced today by the X Prize Foundation of Santa Monica, Calif.

(http://www.xprize.org/ , http://genomics.xprize.org/)

The terms of the prize require competitors to sequence 100 human genomes
of their choice within 10 days, and within six months those of a further
100 people chosen by the foundation.

The foundation chairman, Peter H. Diamandis, said the second list would
include two groups, celebrities and patients nominated by groups involved
with fighting diseases.

The notables who have signed up include Paul Allen, co-founder of
Microsoft; the astrophysicist Stephen Hawking; the television interviewer
Larry King; the financier Michael Milken; and Larry Page, co-founder of
Google.

The foundation gained fame two years ago when its prize for building a
spacecraft was won by a team led by Burt Rutan and Paul Allen. It now
plans a series of prizes to motivate inventors and entrepreneurs, with its
first two targets being the human genome and a fuel-efficient car.

The announcement of the prize brought together two former rivals, Drs. J.
Craig Venter of the Venter Institute and Francis S. Collins, head of the
National Human Genome Research Institute, which financed the government
project to sequence, or decode, the genome.

The government and Dr. Venter sequenced draft versions of the genome. The
cost of the version that the government completed in 2003 was probably
around $500 million, though no precise figure has been given.

Some experts foresee a medical revolution if the cost of DNA sequencing
can be brought low enough that a person=92s genome could be decoded as part
of routine treatment. Several companies have developed novel methods of
sequencing, with the eventual goal of decoding a human genome for as
little as $1,000.

The foundation has not determined a critical parameter, how complete the
genomes need to be. The present =93complete=94 human genome has many gaps a=
nd
is only as complete as present technology can make it.

Unlike the space prize, the genome prize is being offered in a field where
the government has a vigorous grant program to encourage technology, and
several companies are trying to accomplish the same goal for commercial
reasons.

But Jonathan M. Rothberg, the founder of one of those companies, 454 Life
Sciences of Branford, Conn., said the prize was welcome nonetheless.

=93We formed 454 to sequence genomes economically, so it doesn=92t change o=
ur
mission,=94 Dr. Rothberg said. =93But it surely motivates our employees and
energizes the investment community.=94

His company will compete for the prize.

Dr. Rothberg added that he expected that human genomes could be sequenced
for $10,000 within 10 years or less, assuming that some reasonable
standard of completeness was required, meaning one that allowed gaps to
exist for the regions that are still too difficult to decode. Those
regions are thought to contain few genes, if any.

Stanley N. Lapidus, chief executive of another DNA-sequencing company,
Helicos Biosciences of Cambridge, Mass., said the prize was =93a wonderful
thing for focusing the public=92s attention on the promise of genomics.=94

The idea for the genome X prize grew out of a $500,000 prize offered in
2003 by Dr. Venter for being the first to sequence the human genome for
just $1,000. The $10 million for the X prize is being put up by Dr.
Stewart L. Blusson, president of Archon Minerals Ltd. and co-discoverer of
the Ekati diamond mine at Lac de Gras, between Yellowknife and the Arctic
Circle in the Northwest Territories of Canada.

The sole individual genome sequenced so far belongs to Dr. Venter, whose
draft of the genome prepared by his company, Celera Genomics, turned out
to be his own.

In addition, 454 Life Sciences has been working to decode the genome of
Dr. James D. Watson, co-discoverer of the DNA structure.

The genome decoded by the government was a mosaic of genomes from
anonymous individuals.




--
James Love
http://www.cptech.org mailto:james.love@cptech.org
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