Kind of like your local fast food restaurant.
No, just kidding.
Aleksei Aksimentiev, a computational physicist, has developed a new concept that will revolutionize DNA sequencing and everything that has to do with DNA. Which, by the way, is everything. His method requires a strand of DNA be driven through an electrical field, and the change in the current will read the DNA sequence. This will drive down the cost of DNA sequencing to about $1000. Not bad, considering that the first time DNA was sequenced, it took 13 years and $3 billion. Not bad at all.
This project should be completed by 2013.
So what does this mean?
This means that in 2-3 years, your average Joe could find out all about his genes, the diseases he's likely to get, and what types of conditions his kids might have. Chemists could develop personalized medicine. The whole medicine field could become personalized.
http://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=117318&org=NSF
I am intrigued by the process. Can't wait to find out more.
ReplyDeletejoe sounds like a lucky guy but in seriousness this is an interesting article the fact that you can find genetic diseases that you have and your susceptibility to others. A very interesting article indeed.
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