Update: bidding seems to have ended at about 5pm EST today
Genome sequencing company Knome, in partnership with the Xprize Foundation, has launched an auction on Ebay that will allow you to bid to have your whole genome sequenced. As an added bonus the winner will have a private dinner with genetics pioneer George Church. Bidding ends today, so you’d better get moving…bring your deep pockets though: the starting bid is $68,000!
The proceeds, as well as much of the publicity from the auction, are intended to aid the Xprize Foundation, the foundation led by Singularity University co-founder Peter Diamandis, whom we recently interviewed here at Singularity Hub.
The Xprize Foundation sponsors several inspring challenges, one of them the Archon X Prize for Genomics: a reward of $10 million for the first group to sequence 100 human genomes in 10 days at a cost of under $10,000 per genome. Considering the impressive rate at which sequencing costs are going down, we would not be surprised if the prize is achieved this year.
Wait a minute, some will say. “Wasn’t I just reading a story on Singularity Hub claiming that whole genome sequencing will cost $1,000 by the end of the year?”
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