Health and Healthcare

The $1,000 Genome Finally Arrives (LIFE)

Personalized medicine is coming… if you can afford it.  The quest for the $1,000 genomic map has been a race and it appears to be closer and closer.  News is out from Life Technologies that is unveiling the Benchtop Ion Proton™ Sequencer out at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada this week.

Life Tech noted that the Ion Proton™ Sequencer is designed to decode a human genome in one day for $1,000.00 and it is being exhibited now through this Friday.

As a reminder, Life Technologies was created by the combination of Invitrogen Corporation and Applied Biosystems, Inc.  The company’s website for this product description notes:

Powered by Ion Torrent™ semiconductor chip technology, the Ion Proton™ Sequencer is the first benchtop next-generation sequencer to offer fast, affordable human genome and human exome sequencing. Powered by the next generation of semiconductor sequencing technology and offering a similar single-day workflow to the Ion PGM™ Sequencer, the Ion Proton™ Sequencer promises to change the way scientists look at genomics.

Now for the big question… Why do they have to tack on all the extra years on the backside of life?  This news does not bring about the cure for cancer, but it is one step closer to personalized medicine and treating each patient individually rather than just based upon a broader protocol.

JON C. OGG

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