Prof Larry Kedes

Title: Swifter, Lower, Stronger: the $10 Million Olympic Medal for Next Generation Sequencing

The $10 million Archon X PRIZE for Genomics was launched at the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in 2006 to motivate development of technologies that would provide faster, cheaper and more complete whole human diploid genome sequences. Furthermore the X PRIZE Foundation recognized that the incentive prize format was an ideal method to raise pubic awareness and provide educational opportunities about genomics as well help speed the way toward a future that encompasses personalized genomic medicine. At the time of the launch, production of a single haploid sequence took 6 months or more, cost well upwards of $100,000 and was far from either complete or accurate. Furthermore, Sanger sequencing techniques were almost exclusively prevalent and "Next-Gen" methods were just emerging or were still deep in development. Today's sequencing technology landscape is much improved. While market forces have provided much of the incentive needed to pursue the "faster, cheaper, better" goals, the requirements of the X PRIZE contest still lie beyond current achievements- although the gap is narrowing.  What are these goals and why do they remain so important?