Cheap Inexpensive $200 Dollar Gene Sequencing

A company called Pacific Bioscience has raised approximately $120 million in venture capital the previous year. They have just released some new details about technology that will be used to sequence DNA. This technology is called single-molecule real-time sequencing (SMRT). According to Bloomberg the genetic testing technology may allow gene sequencing for under $200 dollars per person.

This is how the technology works (PDF file).

Our approach is based on eavesdropping on a single DNA polymerase molecule working in a continuous, processive manner. Distinguished by its long reads, short run times, and high quality sequence data with less effort and cost, SMRT DNA sequencing promises to be a transformative technology that will enable a new paradigm in genomic analysis.

You can watch the video about this technology here. Gene sequencing this cheap will allow patients to find out genetic problems before hand and take the appropriate action.