How Much Does It Cost To Sequence An Individuals Genome

Question

[Laura]

I am looking for recent figures about the cost of sequencing

I can find this answer on here from 2010 http://biostar.stackexchange.com/questions/3374/figure-of-diminishing-sequencing-costs

and I can find the NHGRI graph which gives us till middle of last year http://www.genome.gov/sequencingcosts/

I read somewhere that I can't find now that Complete Genomics is now quoting $4000 dollars a genome

If you were having to come up with a hypothetical proposal to say 30x whole genome coverage and rna-seq and a couple of sensible chip seq marks on a blood cell line (say a good transcription start site marker and CTCF) how much would you estimate this might cost per individual just in terms of sequencing (bioinformatics/computational hardware costs will be covered elsewhere)

Do you think it would be reasonable to do 500 individuals for a million (pounds/euros) in terms of sequencing costs

EDIT

I was more after a back of the envelope calculation for a fun not real proposal of how to spend a specific chunk of money hence the point that bioinformatics/computational hardware costs being covered elsewhere

Answer 1

[Sean Davis]

Fortunately, the costs of sequencing are on a steady decline. However, knowing where that curve is will require some work on your part to get the most recent amounts. Furthermore, the amount often depends on details such as the number and type of samples, so it is not easy to give generic answers.

Your best bet is to contact, say, three providers of sequencing (Complete Genomics, Illumina, and BGI, for example) to get quotes from them for the complete genome sequencing. For RNA-seq and chip-seq, you'll need to figure out what sequencing options are available to you (local core, commercial provider of service, collaborator, etc.) and then get quotes.

Finally, remember that there are real costs associated with storing and analyzing the data; do not ignore those or there may be some sticker shock, particularly if this is part of a grant budget or the like.

[Larry_Parnell]

Well put regarding the data storage aspect. A good grant will have a complete plan for data storage, access and sharing. And a good reviewer of that grant will note what is planned well and what is not.

[Laura]

the comment about bioinformatic/hardware costs being covered elsewhere was serious, I am aware they are significant costs those are costs I know how to price, the sequencing isn't, this isn't for an actual sequencing project so contacting the actual sequencing centres seems to be overkill

Answer 2

[Istvan Albert]

I heard a nice presentation the other day that reminded the audience that while the cost of sequencing is falling the cost of analysis stayed pretty much the same and it is becoming the dominant cost of the process.

So (just as others have mentioned) don't forget to include this cost as well.

[Laura]

hence my comment bioinformatic/hardware costs will be covered elsewhere

Answer 3

[Casey Bergman]

You might be able to use BlueSeq to help you get a comparative view of the current pricing from different vendors around the world.

[Laura]

blueseq looks to be a good way to get a quote which isn't actually what I am after, I just want to know approximately what the ballpark of sequencing cost is at the moment

[Casey Bergman]

isn't that the same thing?

[Laura]

no because a ballpark figure I hoped involved asking some people and them making a suggestion not contacting and waiting for responses from lots of different sequencing suppliers

[Casey Bergman]

Bluseq has a database of this information and contact the vendors for you

Answer 4

[Gjain]

I just read this article

Machine to read individual’s DNA for $1,000

So sequencing is like computing from 60`s to new millenium ... the cost of hardware is decreasing with the increase in throughput, but the hidden cost is the cost of analyzing the data generated by it.

[Laura]

as I said to other people I did say that the bioinformatics/hardware costs were covered elsewhere