Pacific Biosciences has gained $100 million in venture funds to accelerate its work on new technology that will permit gene sequencing virtually on demand. And the company's CEO is telling investors that in five years they will have the technology to complete sequencing in 15 minutes. That compares to the 13 years it took the federally funded Human Genome Project to complete the first sequencing project. And it will help open up a whole new era of medicine when developers can identify which group of patients will benefit from a drug based on a series of biomarkers.
The company's technology relies on a polymerase enzyme that can allow researchers to swiftly decode a DNA fragment. The venture arm of Intel has joined Deerfield Capital, Morgan Stanley, Kleiner Perkins and others in the financing.
- see this release [1]
- read the Wall Street Journal article [2]
Related Articles:
Race for $1,000 genome sequencing heats up [3]
X Prize offers $10M for fast mapping [4]
Hedge fund managers dangle million-dollar research prize [5]
Links:
[1] http://www.fiercebiotech.com/press-releases/pacific-biosciences-raises-100-million-fund-commercial-product-development-0
[2] http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121600129673550045.html?mod=2_1566_topbox
[3] http://www.fiercebioresearcher.com/story/race-for-1000-genome-sequencing-heats-up/2008-02-12?utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss&cmp-id=OTC-RSS-FBR0
[4] http://www.fiercebioresearcher.com/story/x-prize-offers-10m-for-fast-mapping/2006-10-05
[5] http://www.fiercebioresearcher.com/story/hedge-fund-managers-dangle-million-dollar-research-prize/2007-05-29