PacBio’s DNA-sequencing technology generated a huge amount of excitement when it was described in a cover article in Science because it could someday make it possible to sequence an entire genome in minutes for less than $1,000. The first machines now being rolled out are only a step on the way to this goal, and it will actually cost more to sequence a full human genome using them than with competing machines made by Illumina and Life Technologies.But new customers say that they are eager to get their hands on the PacBio machines because they can do things that the competitors can’t, getting results in as little as 15 minutes and tackling hard-to-handle DNA sequences in plants, bacteria, and tumors.
Read more at Forbes.