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About 10 years ago, I considered the possibility of a gadget that connected to a home computer and allowed you to perform genetic testing at home - without reve

by xirium 19y ago

About 10 years ago, I considered the possibility of a gadget that connected to a home computer and allowed you to perform genetic testing at home - without revealing information to third parties. They'd be a large market for such a device. Unfortunately, it isn't feasible yet but it will be.

aswanson 19y ago
What are the inhibiting cost factors?
- rms 19y ago
  For SNP testing, the cost of micro-arrays and micro-array reading machines are way too much for at home use. Whole genome testing right now is astronomically more expensive than SNP testing. However, if the rapidly decreasing cost of genetic sequencing keeps up, then it will eventually be possible to create at home genome sequencers that feed into your home computer to analyze the data. The privacy paranoid will have to pay a significant premium for this privilege. Also, a DNA extraction machine would have to be bundled with the at home sequencer, ideally in one machine, and DNA extraction machines are also too expensive for home use. Without a machine, DNA extraction involves proprietary solution combined with various steps of heating and centrifuging.
  - apathy 19y ago
    A fluidics station is not cheap, and neither is the rest of the typical Affy rig (and Illumina is worse), but having set up more than a few, I have to tell you, the cost of the components isn't actually very great. (As in, the parts and labor. The price paid to the company is most assuredly huge.) If there were actually demand for it, someone could throw together the equivalent of an open-source array reader kit for (guesing, but not without basis in fact) $10K or so. God knows it's faster and easier to work around Affy or Illumina's junkware with R than it is to get anything done with their binaries... but that would be silly because who outside of a hospital or lab really has that much use for one? But sequencing-by-synthesis methods that can use WGA on small samples are the key to a truly accessible and useful map of an individual's genome. I don't really care how my genome differs from Craig Venter's; I want to know how it differs from itself as I get older, I want to know how it differs from itself as I am exposed to environmental factors, and I want to know how it differs from the baseline for my 'eigen-ancestry' in terms of disease risk. There are so many statistical piles of shit that have already been stepped in (particularly WRT linkage analysis, but I'm sure we'll eventually see a good laffer from a GWAS of some sort now that they're all the rage) that I'd really rather have the tools to work on my own, thankyouverymuch...
- thisisnotmyname 19y ago
  The reagents are extremely expensive and the computational requirements of the assembly require access to a cluster.
  - deleted 19y ago
    [deleted]
immad 19y ago
is it even possible to build something that would allow a non-technical person to conduct genetic testing at home?
- rms 19y ago
  Definitely. Already, some high end scientific equipment is almost completely automated. I think it could get as simple as "spit in tube, place tube in machine, push button on machine, plug machine into USB port on computer." There will exist a market opportunity for this eventually
  - immad 19y ago
    cool

by xirium 19y ago

aswanson 19y ago

What are the inhibiting cost factors?

rms 19y ago
For SNP testing, the cost of micro-arrays and micro-array reading machines are way too much for at home use. Whole genome testing right now is astronomically more expensive than SNP testing. However, if the rapidly decreasing cost of genetic sequencing keeps up, then it will eventually be possible to create at home genome sequencers that feed into your home computer to analyze the data. The privacy paranoid will have to pay a significant premium for this privilege. Also, a DNA extraction machine would have to be bundled with the at home sequencer, ideally in one machine, and DNA extraction machines are also too expensive for home use. Without a machine, DNA extraction involves proprietary solution combined with various steps of heating and centrifuging.
- apathy 19y ago
  A fluidics station is not cheap, and neither is the rest of the typical Affy rig (and Illumina is worse), but having set up more than a few, I have to tell you, the cost of the components isn't actually very great. (As in, the parts and labor. The price paid to the company is most assuredly huge.) If there were actually demand for it, someone could throw together the equivalent of an open-source array reader kit for (guesing, but not without basis in fact) $10K or so. God knows it's faster and easier to work around Affy or Illumina's junkware with R than it is to get anything done with their binaries... but that would be silly because who outside of a hospital or lab really has that much use for one? But sequencing-by-synthesis methods that can use WGA on small samples are the key to a truly accessible and useful map of an individual's genome. I don't really care how my genome differs from Craig Venter's; I want to know how it differs from itself as I get older, I want to know how it differs from itself as I am exposed to environmental factors, and I want to know how it differs from the baseline for my 'eigen-ancestry' in terms of disease risk. There are so many statistical piles of shit that have already been stepped in (particularly WRT linkage analysis, but I'm sure we'll eventually see a good laffer from a GWAS of some sort now that they're all the rage) that I'd really rather have the tools to work on my own, thankyouverymuch...
thisisnotmyname 19y ago
The reagents are extremely expensive and the computational requirements of the assembly require access to a cluster.
- deleted 19y ago
  [deleted]

immad 19y ago

is it even possible to build something that would allow a non-technical person to conduct genetic testing at home?

rms 19y ago
Definitely. Already, some high end scientific equipment is almost completely automated. I think it could get as simple as "spit in tube, place tube in machine, push button on machine, plug machine into USB port on computer." There will exist a market opportunity for this eventually
- immad 19y ago
  cool