Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Life Technologies Signs On As First Competitor In Genomics X PRIZE

San Diego-based Life Technologies, the maker of life sciences equipment, has signed on as the first competitor in the Archon Genomics X PRIZE, the life sciences prize being administered by Marina Del Rey-based X Prize Foundation. The competition is dangling up to $10M for being the first to rapidly and accurately sequence 100 human genomes, at a cost of $1,000 or less each. Life Technologies is fielding the Ion Torrent X PRIZE team, headed by Dr. JOnathan Rothberg. The X PRIZE foundation is holding its team registration open until May 2013, and plans to run a 30-day competition for the prize in September of 2013. Competitors will be given the DNA of 100 centenarians to sequence, as part of an effort to understand the aging process.

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