Discover: It cost nearly $3 billion and took 13 years to sequence the first human genome, and since then only a handful of people have had their total genome analyzed. Today it would price out at about $350,000 and take a few months. But Pacific Bio sciences in Menlo Park, California, says that as early as 2013 it will have the technology to map all of a person’s DNA in just a few minutes and for mere hundreds of dollars.
But, you never know what you might find. Just ask Sergey Brin.
UPDATE> On a related note:
A Google-backed startup that analyzes customers' genetic makeup to predict health risks and provide ancestry information has slashed the price on its personal DNA test, the company announced this month.
The decision by 23andMe Inc. to cut the price of its test from $999 to $399 could herald a price war in the small but buzz-heavy marketplace for direct-to-consumer genetic testing. The company's main competitors charge anywhere from just under $1,000 to $2,500 for similar services.
Granted, that $399 doesn't get you a complete gene sequencing yet, but still....
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