501derful.org
The New York Times has been covering a lot of cancer topics lately as mentioned in an earlier blog on FI Space about a current series. In addition, another story today in the NYT today was about the three-year $100 million funding that the federal government has designated for the Cancer Genome Atlas pilot – "the first step toward a comprehensive map of cancer’s genetic makeup. The Cancer Genome Atlas will ‘tackle the cancer problem like it’s never been tackled before,’ said Dr. Francis Collins, genetics chief at the National Humane Genome Research Institute."
this has gotten huge coverage. Seems like an important step despite some skepticism. The thing that blows my mind is that this project was inconceivable just a couple of years ago. It is made possible by the steady decrease in the cost per base-pair for sequencing. It’s dirt cheap compared to when the Genome project began. It’ll get a lot cheaper in the future taking us closer to personal genome sequencing and personalized medicine. Watch for more big changes.