Thursday, February 8, 2018

SOME INTERESTING BIO-STUFF


Linda in the San Juans
 
The first successful “sequencing” of the human genome was announced 16 years ago.  It had taken years, cost $400 million, and required a machine the size of a phone booth.  But science (well, technology) stumbles on.  An NIH Directors blog just announced that an even better job can now be accomplished using a device no bigger than the gadget I use to trim my beard.  Moreover, the cost now is about $23,000 and takes a matter of hours.  Hell, if you are an Alaskan (they can fix anything), with a Ph.D in physics, you can buy a kit for $1000 and build your own!
What does this have to do with ovarian cancer?  Not much, directly.  However, as genetic sequencing grows quicker and cheaper, the argument that wholesale testing of the entire female population for suspicious mutations grows progressively weaker.
 


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