Abstract
Using the power of laboratory automation we can expect the next frontier of the molecular scientist, the sequencing of the human genome, to be achieved within the next decade. Craig Venter, Ph.D., President and Director of the Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) in Rockville, MD, announced to the media that his institute and Perkin-Elmer Corporation (Norwalk, CT, NYSE: PKN) will team up to sequence the human genome using the latest in laboratory automation technology.
However, the relatively short time scale and costs associated with a DNA sequencing task of this proportion was exciting news to the members of our professional organization. Where the NIH has budgeted a total of 3 billion dollars to sequence the human genome, Venter suggests that the use of automation technology would make the sequencing effort possible at the bargain basement price of approximately 150 to 250 million dollars.
Price was not the only parameter that was going to be reduced: the time required to sequence the more than 3 billion bases of the human genome would be reduced from 15 years (by NIH's estimate) to 3 years. The sheer magnitude of the task being attempted by Venter and Perkin-Elmer has even laboratory automation specialists raising their eyebrows, especially since only 4% of the genome has been deciphered thus far.
The Perkin-Elmer Corporation is developing the technological end of this partnership. Their “breakthrough” high-throughput DNA sequencing technology, called the 3700 DNA analyzer, should put them significantly ahead of any technology currently available.
The 3700 DNA Analyzer, priced at approximately $300,000, should allow the new Venter company (Celera Genomics Corp.) to complete substantially the sequencing of the human genome in three years. This high-speed analysis (100 million bases a day) is a result of the combination of capillary electrophoresis enhanced with novel polymer separation chemistry coupled with new detection technology and automation. The high degree of automation should allow ultra-high throughput, and 24-hour unattended operation using only 6% of the labor of previous techniques.
Venter will present the opening lecture at the LabAutomation conference this year and receive the Beckman Award Lecture for innovations in laboratory automation and for dramatically bringing new technology to public attention.
We look forward to your attendance at LabAutomation'99, to hear this, and other ground-breaking lectures.