Personal Genomics

Some one asked me what was the biggest impression on RECOMB2009. Well, the biggest impression was the desert with a lot of rain--it kept raining for two days.  Ooh.. you mean my impression on the conference.  That was, the game of personal genomics is really going on and rapidly evolving. Quite a few talks and posters are talking about next generation sequencing, personal genomics and personal medicine. The whole business session is about personal genomics. 23andme, Navigenetics, Complete Genomics and some other companies, who attended the panel discussion on the conference, are obviously eager to take a share in this immense market. 

It seems that suddenly you have to get a copy of your own genome. Companies such as 23andMe and deCODEme offer cheap (sub-$1000) genome scans looking at between 500,000 and a million sites of common variation throughout the genome. Knome offers sequencing of all of your protein-coding genes for $24,500. Knome is even selling a DNA whole genome sequence experience on ebay for $68,000, and interestingly someone has bidden on it.