GATTACA machine needed: Gibbs

Australian-born Baylor geneticist Richard Gibbs believes rapid, low-cost sequencing is the key new technology required to keep the genomics revolution advancing.

"We need a GATTACA machine, we really do," he said, speaking after his presentation at the XIX International Congress of Genetics. "The goal of a $1000 genome is a sensible goal. And I think we'll see fast resequencing mechanisms in the next few years."

Gibb outlined a number of new technologies that have been developed at the Baylor College of Medicine Human Genome Sequencing Centre and other labs, which have already helped to speed up sequencing of the rat genome and compare multiple genomes for similarities and differences.

Other new technologies are aiding rapid mapping of new genomes such as the honeybee and the sea urchin genomes. And Gibb believes that cheaper sequencing technologies will make it feasible to sequence many more species than just the key model animals under study at the moment.