Human genome put up for auction
The X Prize Foundation, known as the founder of major prizes in various fields of science and technology, has put up for sale on eBay an extremely unusual product – the complete human genome! The cost of the genome, which billions were spent on compiling at one time, is more or less democratic - only $68,000. In 2003, geneticists completed many years of work on compiling a kind of human DNA map. Then the program cost research organizations $3 billion. Now the genome will go under the hammer on eBay; the initial price of the lot is $68,000. The proceeds of the X Prize Foundation will be spent on financing promising research in the field of medicine.
Compiling a complete patient genome is the future of medicine: with a complete genetic characteristic of the patient in hand, doctors will be able to determine the risk of a particular disease, the most effective treatment methods and even his reaction to certain medications and vaccines!
So far, genome compilation is available only to very wealthy citizens – it costs $99,500 or more. At the same time, progress does not stand still and, with the development of high technologies in medicine, the costs of a detailed procedure will certainly decrease. The X Prize Foundation has established a prize of $10 million for those companies or private researchers who manage to compile the genomes of at least 100 people within no more than 10 days, while spending less than $10,000 on compiling each genome.
Russian New YorkPortal "Eternal youth" www.vechnayamolodost.ru