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Will the cost of sequencing a human genome drop below $100 before 1 September 2023?

Started Sep 08, 2022 07:00PM UTC
Closed Sep 01, 2023 03:59AM UTC

Advances in DNA-sequencing technologies have dramatically expanded our ability to quickly and accurately engineer biological systems. As the cost of genome sequencing decreases, researchers can develop new applications that take advantage of this technology and use their understanding of genomics to manufacture catalogued DNA sequences and assemble them into new genomes. Some compare the cost of genome sequencing to costs to what we might expect through an application of Moore’s Law and have found that the advances have been much more rapid than anticipated. Having crossed the $1000 threshold in 2019, many are now eyeing the $100 genome as the next big milestone, with some companies already claiming that their technologies can sequence a human genome at that price.  
 
This question will resolve using “Cost per Human Genome” data from the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI). You can download data in an excel sheet by clicking the link Sequencing Costs 2021. This question will resolve as “Yes” if the NHGRI reports a Cost per Genome less than $100 for any date before 1 September 2023. If earlier data has not resolved the question, the question will close for forecasting on 31 August 2023 and be resolved when August data is released.
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