Multi-Million-Dollar Prize for DNA Decoding

Speedy gene sequencing would be a technology breakthrough for medical research and enable people to obtain an affordable, complete personal DNA code. A new prize that offers millions of dollars for fast DNA decoding may accelerate that technology.

Researchers say that the decoding of many people's DNA will accelerate the effort to understand links between genes and diseases. Some researchers believe that eventually people will be able to plug genetic information into Internet search engines and download the latest information about their genetic strengths and susceptibilities.

The X Prize Foundation (Santa Monica, CA, USA) is offering a U.S.$5-20 million prize to the first team that completely decodes the DNA of at least 100 people in a matter of weeks. The award represents an effort of the X Prize Foundation to become "a global brand that establishes people as geniuses and innovators” according to chief executive and founder, Dr. Peter Diamandis, a physician and former aerospace entrepreneur.

The prize is the brainchild of biologist Dr. J. Craig Ventner, who earlier formed a private scientific institute (Celera Genomics, Rockville, Maryland, USA) that offered a prize for any team able to decipher a genome for $1,000 or less. Dr. Ventner, now a director of the X Prize Foundation, has agreed for the foundation to take over management of the prize, which will now go to the team that decodes genomes most rapidly and accurately.

The X Prize Foundation was originally established in 1994 as a nonprofit-education organization dedicated to inspiring private entrepreneurial advancements in space travel.




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