PDA

View Full Version : "Breakthrough: sequence a human genome for just $1000"



MovieBuff
01-15-2014, 08:44 PM
http://io9.com/breakthrough-now-we-can-sequence-a-human-genome-for-ju-1502081435

Dan Ortego
01-16-2014, 09:07 AM
Interesting article so I forwarded it to my friend who's a PhD molecular biologist. She's a true-blue brainiac so I'll be interested to see her response.

AlBurr
01-16-2014, 10:55 AM
Fascinating...thanks for posting... Now I need 10M and a few years to start making money :) I figure I would charge $1200 and see if I can get my money back sooner. In all seriousness this could have some big impact on healthcare...less in my lifetime but certainly for my children.

exreality
01-17-2014, 04:16 PM
This will have some implications on healthcare, but whole genome sequencing isn't especially useful from a practical standpoint. The issue with most genetic or heritable diseases is that they are often multi-factorial, depending on the proper function of many genes in concern with another. Screening technologies for known single-gene heritable conditions have existed for decades, but the complex interactions between genes cannot begin to be understood simply by sequencing.

Researchers found that although identical twins share the same DNA, they get different diseases at different time points. This has to do with environmental causes and "epigenetic" (this is "above the genome") changes that are not detected by conventional sequencing. This is typical: once we think we understand how something works, we discover another layer of complexity that threatens to make our recent advancements obsolete.

Fun toy, cool milestone, but sadly barely scratches the surface when it comes to true medical advancement.

P.S. Yes I have been accused of being a pessimist :P

MovieBuff
01-17-2014, 07:43 PM
Fun toy, cool milestone, but sadly barely scratches the surface when it comes to true medical advancement.

P.S. Yes I have been accused of being a pessimist :P

I get what you are saying. I feel the same way about computers. I have been doing video for a while and can't stand video-export render times. It will take time, remember how they use to say that glass buildings would never be possible.

MovieBuff
01-17-2014, 07:46 PM
Interesting article so I forwarded it to my friend who's a PhD molecular biologist. She's a true-blue brainiac so I'll be interested to see her response.

I wonder what she thinks. It will take time for sure.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsHuGQieyjY
This occurred in less than 3 years of his initial prediction.

MovieBuff
01-17-2014, 07:46 PM
Fascinating...thanks for posting... Now I need 10M and a few years to start making money :) I figure I would charge $1200 and see if I can get my money back sooner. In all seriousness this could have some big impact on healthcare...less in my lifetime but certainly for my children.

My pleasure. Any update on your studio?

AlBurr
01-17-2014, 09:07 PM
Other than the lighting...nothing. I am getting up to speed on a couple software packages so I can do graphics and video... namely After Effects and Premier Pro. I signed up for Lynda and am learning pretty rapidly... It's been awhile since I had as much fun learning a software package. Most of my time learning software is usually spent learning the software I sell so this is a nice change of pace.

Inspired by Andrew and others I have gone a little nuts with some LED lighting for my background...Back to that "looking good" quote :)

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800x600q90/41/1ikl.jpg

Dan Ortego
01-18-2014, 03:06 AM
Morning Al,
Well, I see you have a Lava Lamp so nothing else matters. No really, it looks great! I can still smell incense burning in a dark lit room as I listen to Jimi Hendrix singing 'Purple Haze'. Just for nostalgia sake I'd like to get one but I remember they generate quite a bit of heat. :confused:

By the way, I've been tweaking my Studio as well and I'm currently installing the initial sound treatments. Also got a couple items stuffed in the rack with some added tidbits. As you know all of this stuff can be quite tedious and at times somewhat challenging, but that's part of the fun! The folks at Home Depot should paint my name on one of the parking slots in front of their store. :cool:

AlBurr
01-18-2014, 02:28 PM
Yes Dan I can relate...although I'm not sure it was just incense I smelled when I was listening to Morrison sing "People are Strange" :cool:. and yes the lava lamp definitely puts out heat.

Sound treatment is gonna be a tough one for me. As you can see I have a lot of flat surfaces behind me that don't bode well for good audio.