$1.5 trillion

Today it is possible to sequence entire genomes at a much faster pace and lower costs more than ever before, thanks to the efforts of innovators such as Illumina. Its CEO, Francis desouza, tells us that “it cost $3 billion and thirteen years to sequence the first single human genome in 1990. When we introduced our first sequencer in 2007, the price was around $150,000, and between then and 2023 we brought the price down to $200 - which means we have lowered our prices by 99.9%.” The benefits of such advancements are manifold, impacting areas ranging from gut health to rare diseases and, according to desouza, even information science: “There is even research being done today about how we could use DNA as a storage medium for artificial data, given that it is much more efficient than current hard-disks.”