Sequencers at the Ready

The Archon X Prize Foundation announced new guidelines for its genomics competition at the New York Academy of Medicine this morning. For this competition, participants will be sequencing 100 centenarians, and the foundation is partnering with the drug benefit company Medco to recruit 100 people over the age of 100. (The prize is now officially the $10 Million Archon Genomics X Prize presented by Medco.) The foundation aims to recruit 100 centenarians to the project by July 2012. The head-to-head competition is to begin January 3, 2013, and participants will have 30 days to sequence those genomes for a total cost of no more than $1,000 per genome, with no more than one error per million bases, to 98 percent completion, and with one complete phased chromosome. Felix Frueh, president of Medco Research Institute, said those requirements would ensure medical-grade genomics. The foundation is also working with EdgeBio for this competition.