'Bioinformatics Is Good for Business'

Speaking at Singularity University earlier this month, Genomera Chief Scientist Raymond McCauley said that the pessimists who say nothing substantive has come of genomics are wrong, and that the data being gathered by researchers will soon drastically change medicine, reports Forbes' Ted Greenwald. The price of a complete genome has been steadily falling, and with the $1,000 genome within reach, many scientists are contemplating what they'll be able to do when the price reaches $1, Greenwald says. McCauley predicts the price will reach $0.01 in a decade, in which case researchers would be able to "sequence everything!" And when that happens, Greenwald says, bioinformatics would be able to "reveal insights that wouldn't otherwise be apparent." He also says that "bioinformatics is good for business," and that "no one doubts that the one-cent genome is coming. Someone will turn it into a billion-dollar business. It's an opportunity waiting to happen."