What is the Cost of Human Genome Sequencing?
Two groups tied in first sequencing a human genome — the Human Genome Project, funded by the US Department of Energy, and Celera Genomics, a private company. The Human Genome Project took 10 years and cost $3 billion USD (US Dollars), while the Celera genome sequencing project took two years and cost just $300 million USD. Both projects concluded in 2000 or 2001, depending on what is considered a “complete” human genome sequencing. The milestone of sequencing the human genome was extremely significant because it gave us a direct description of the code underlying the creation of a human being, even if we only understand small parts of it. The number of genes in the human genome was found to be 20,000-25,000, smaller than predicted. As more genomes continue to be sequenced, our knowledge of their contents increases, as does our ability to apply these findings usefully to personalized medicine. Gene sequencing costs have been dropped exponentially since the sequencing of the human genom
