$US10m prize aims to inspire gene race
Email Print Normal font Large font October 5, 2006 - 9:44AM


The US foundation that inspired a private sector race to space announced a new $US10 million ($A13.5 million) prize - this time to inspire a race to sequence the human genetic map faster and cheaper.

Although scientists have mapped one person's genome - by both public and private efforts - it was time-consuming and expensive.

The X-Prize Foundation wants to inspire someone to map 100 different human genomes in just 10 days.

And just to spice things up, it is offering another $US1 million ($A1.35 million) if the team can decode the genomes of 100 more people, including some wealthy donors and celebrities such as Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and Google co-founder Larry Page.

The effort could speed the era of personal genomics - in which each person's propensity to disease, response to drugs, and other tendencies are individually mapped, said Dr Francis Collins, director of the National Human Genome Research Institute.

His institute is already working on ways to do this.

The X Prize Foundation sponsored a $US10 million ($A13.5 million) prize to try to fuel a commercial race to space and in 2004 aviation pioneer Burt Rutan won the cash with SpaceShipOne, a three-seat rocket plane that flew into space twice in one week.

"Rapid genome sequencing is widely regarded as the next great frontier for science and will eventually allow doctors to determine an individual's susceptibility to disease and even genetic links to cancer," the foundation said.

This prize will be called the Archon Genomics X Prize.

"I think someone will win this prize. I don't think they'll win it next week," said Collins.

Collins's institute spent 10 years and $US300 million ($A404.3 million) decoding the human genome.

It got into its own race with Craig Venter, the brash founder of Celera Genomics, who did it with private funding but still spent $US100 million ($A135 million) and took nine months to do it.

Eventually, Venter teamed up with the government scientists to publish a full genome map in 2001.

Venter had offered a $US500,000 ($A673,900) prize to someone who could do it faster. He is now giving that money to the X Prize foundation.

"It's like geeks are taking over the world," Venter said in an interview. "Who thought a scientists could get $US10 million ($A13.5 million) for coming up with a breakthrough technology?"

The mapping would still cost close to $US20 million ($A27 million), Collins estimated.

With the help of private companies that have entered the business of making automated gene sequencing machines, Collins said the cost and time needed to make a gene map has fallen steadily.

"This maybe will speed it up even further," Collins said in an interview.

"If we do it, we have to fix this problem of (genetic) discrimination," he added.

Physicist Stephen Hawking, famous for his book A Brief History of Time welcomed the move.

"You may know that I am suffering from what is known as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig's disease, which is thought to have a genetic component to its origin," he said.

"This prize and the resulting technology can help bring about an era of personalised medicine. It is my sincere hope that the Archon X prize for genomics can help drive breakthroughs in diseases like ALS," said Hawking, who is almost completely paralysed.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/World/...641427298.html

I really like this idea...the scientists are only paid the prize if they are successsful...and its a contest /race between several different ones....no more hyping of research in the press to get a grant...at least not the way this contest was designed...
I wish there were more like it...and if ALS is genetic related..which I freely admit I'm no scientist.. but I agree with Jeff 's earlier post on another thread,,even in sporadic cases my hunch too is there is a component...this may be very important...Lisa