samvado
21st March 2010, 10:25
DNA sequencing used to be awfully slow when I was studying biology. We had a PDP8-DEC computer then, less than 1% as powerful as a cheap mobile phone today.
Even in 2001, when the human genom project was announcing its results it was a big mega-bucks undertaking, done by the government.
Soon we will see the equippment for home-use as appliance connected to your pc.
I just read this on the web:
February 26, 2010 | MARCO ISLAND, FL—Pacific Biosciences will introduce what it describes as the first “third-generation” [molecular] DNA sequencing instrument at the Advances in Genome Biology and Technology (AGBT) meeting later today. “It’s really the world’s most powerful real time, single-molecule microscope,” said PacBio CEO and chairman Hugh Martin.
During a preview of the highly anticipated instrument for the press, Martin hailed the machine as “a quantum leap” for the field. “We sold the ten beta units just like that—fully paid for!” PacBio intends to ship those first ten instruments to customers, all in North America, by this June.
The first thing one notices about the $695,000 machine is that, for an instrument sequencing single molecules of DNA, it’s awfully big. The floor-standing machine weighs about 1900 pounds and is 6 1/2 feet wide and 29 inches deep. The instrument is accompanied by a separate blade center for the real-time data processing, which sits apart from the main instrument.
Even in 2001, when the human genom project was announcing its results it was a big mega-bucks undertaking, done by the government.
Soon we will see the equippment for home-use as appliance connected to your pc.
I just read this on the web:
February 26, 2010 | MARCO ISLAND, FL—Pacific Biosciences will introduce what it describes as the first “third-generation” [molecular] DNA sequencing instrument at the Advances in Genome Biology and Technology (AGBT) meeting later today. “It’s really the world’s most powerful real time, single-molecule microscope,” said PacBio CEO and chairman Hugh Martin.
During a preview of the highly anticipated instrument for the press, Martin hailed the machine as “a quantum leap” for the field. “We sold the ten beta units just like that—fully paid for!” PacBio intends to ship those first ten instruments to customers, all in North America, by this June.
The first thing one notices about the $695,000 machine is that, for an instrument sequencing single molecules of DNA, it’s awfully big. The floor-standing machine weighs about 1900 pounds and is 6 1/2 feet wide and 29 inches deep. The instrument is accompanied by a separate blade center for the real-time data processing, which sits apart from the main instrument.