X Prize Foundation – Bid on have your Genome Sequenced on EBay Auction

This looks like a new and different way to raise money for the X Prize Foundation. The medical side of the foundation has recently been in the news but the genomics side of the business has been established for quite a while. The related reading below gives some of the history. A few months ago, Harvard Professor Steve Pinkerton wrote about what it meant to him to have his complete genome sequenced. Its a lot of information and how and what you do with it all is still evolving. If you are not sure what this is all about, the link below has a video and will give you a quick run down.

An Introduction to Genomics – Humans have Bugs just like Windows does and It’s all about the Code

We are getting closer to getting the process to be within an affordable range, especially with Complete Genomics and their recent “wholesale” offering soon to come, no analysis, just the raw data to be used for interpretation. BD

Playa Vista-based X Prize Foundation is taking an unusual approach to fund its nonprofit efforts, and is auctioning off a complete gene sequencing to the highest bidder on eBay. The auction--which starts at $68,000--will give the winner a completely sequenced, readout of their genetic map. The foundation is tapping DNA sequencing firm Knome for the prize, which usually costs nearly $100,000. Full mapping of a DNA sequence is still a labor-intensive process, and usually only done as part of more extensive scientific efforts. The auction will go to help fund the foundation's efforts to accelerate personalized medicine. The auction starts Friday, and runs until May 4th.

X Prize Foundation Puts DNA Mapping Up For Bid On eBay | socalTECH.com