The ability to routinely sequence people’s complete genomes for $1,000 or less would revolutionize health research and open a new era of personalized medicine. The same technology, applied to pressing topics such as the microbiome, infectious agent surveillance and agriculture would change the very nature of the endeavor to protect and improve the human condition.
This is the second year in which we invite other members of the research community to join with NHGRI grantees for a day of presentations on progress, and discussions on the critical scientific and engineering challenges yet to be solved, to enable complete, high quality human genome sequencing for $1,000.
Purpose of this meeting: an open forum on key technical challenges to ultra-low-cost, high-quality DNA sequencing.
Participants: scientists and engineers who are expert in fields such as biochemistry, molecular biology, biophysics, analytical chemistry, physics, single-molecule studies, micro- and nanotechnology, materials, signal processing, fast/ sensitive electronics, and many others.
Why participate: Participants will learn about state-of-the-art research on genome sequencing technologies and NHGRI’s program, and share their knowledge and expertise to achieve the technology goals. They will have an opportunity to contribute insights on solutions to key challenges.
Presentation opportunities: Participants are encouraged to submit poster abstracts. A subset of abstracts will be selected for platform presentation.
Context: In 2004, the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) of the NIH initiated a program of grants to support the development of technologies to slash the cost of DNA sequencing. At that time, producing a very high quality draft of the entire human genome cost about $10 million. The program goal was to reduce that cost by 2 orders of magnitude in five years and by 4 orders of magnitude in ten years. While ultra-low-cost sequencing technology would certainly have many applications, the immediate motivation was human genome sequencing for medical benefit. Annual grantee meetings constitute an integral and highly effective component of this program; the latest data and concepts are openly shared to accelerate progress in the field.
The initial 5-year goal – human genome sequencing for $100,000 – has essentially been met, though improvements in the nature of the data produced by current technologies would overcome substantial impediments. And in spite of outstanding scientific progress toward the $1,000 genome, technical success is not assured because of challenges in diverse fields of study.
This meeting will bring together, for a day of intensive scientific exchange, NHGRI Advanced Sequencing Technology Program grantees and other scientists and engineers who may have insights that would help to achieve the goal of sequencing human genomes at high quality for $1,000 or less. We invite your participation.
