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Looking to raise money to boost the cause of genomic research, Cambridge-based genomics services provider Knome Inc. is auctioning off a personal entire genome sequencing, with related interpretation services, on eBay Inc.’s marketplace.
The cash raised is slated for donation to The X Prize Foundation, an educational nonprofit, Knome announced. The starting bid was $68,000, and the final bid will be accepted on Monday. However, as of Friday morning there had been no bids.
The prize was intended to highlight National DNA Day -- April 25. In turn, the foundation intends to hold a so-called Archon X Prize for Genomics global competition that will award $10 million to anyone that is capable of sequencing 100 human genomes in 10 days -- at a cost of no more than $10,000 per genome.
The foundation hopes the Archon X will help usher in the time when the general public can have access to affordable personal genomic analysis. Knome’s full service runs at $99,500, explained Ari Kiirikki, vice president of sales and business development at Knome. He explained that genomics sequencing is like flying. Once, decades ago, flying in a plane was for the few and wealthy. Organizations had to offer prizes to men such as Charles Lindbergh to take aviation risks, and the X Prize Foundation is doing the same thing as those early flight sponsors.
“Both have the same goal of making something possible for the masses,” he said. “It’s a holy grail.”
He’s convinced that the genomics field is on the “verge of exploding,” just as the computer industry did in the late 1970s. When the cost of sequencing becomes generally affordable, like a plane ticket, that will revolutionize medicine, said Kiirikki. “Medicine will go from being reactive to proactive,” he said. “When that sequencing is available, it will change career decision making, what charities you support and what medicines you take,” he said. It will be comparable to the application of the microscope to research.
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