It was one of the largest international scientific collaborations ever undertaken and it led, eventually, to a landmark accomplishment. Yet even with a budget of more than $3 billion and the participation of thousands of scientists, the process of mapping the human genome still took more than a decade. The technology has improved enormously since then: it is now possible to sequence a human genome in about eight days, at a cost of around $10,000. But researchers dream of being able to complete the process in a matter of hours, or even minutes, for less than $1,000. Genome sequencing could then become routine, making it much easier to identify the genetic basis of diseases or isolate the factors that cause a drug to work in one patient but not another.
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