The price of genome sequence at 1 Ohio children's hospital

Julie Spitzer -

The Institute for Genomic Medicine at the Columbus, Ohio-based Nationwide Children's Hospital sequences hundreds of human genomes each year in the hopes of tailoring children's cancer care to their individual mutations, reports The Columbus Dispatch.

The $750,000 sequencer reads DNA from a patient's tissue sample to obtain information about their genome, or the complete set of genes or genetic material in a cell or organism. The process takes about three to four days, sequencing four to 16 samples at a time.  

It costs roughly $15,000 to sequence one genome, but without the machine, the same process conducted by hand could take years and cost the hospital $1 billion per genome.

Although the institute, which operates through philanthropic money, is focusing only on cancer patients, its director Richard Wilson, PhD, says there is room to expand.

"Genomics can really allow us to zoom in on exactly what's gone wrong and maybe come up with a better treatment for the kids that we see," Dr. Wilson told The Columbus Dispatch. "You can pretty much fill in the blank with your favorite childhood disease — that's an opportunity for research."

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