Udit Agarwal
San Francisco based DNA startup Nebula Genomics is now going to provide free DNA sequencing at a free of cost to everyone who answers a series of questions about their own set of health according to the blog post.
The startup which is started by the Geneticist George Church who is also known as the father of the Human Genome Project, nebula Genomics works and uses the blockchain technology to eliminate the middleman and to empower people to own their set of personal genomic data.
The startup as of now charges Rs 7000 for the for complete sequencing for the discovery ancestry is now providing at free of cost. Moreover, as of now, it is just limited to America only as of now, and Nebula is also planning to bring this free DNA service to other countries as well.
The genome is the entire DNA content which is present within one cell of an organism, and this genome also contains the whole of its hereditary information which is encoded in its DNA.
For the uninitiated, genetic code or the result of the ‘Gene Sequencing’ is a set of instruction manual which tells that each of your cells how to work. Essentially, an instruction manual in the same sense which your TV comes with a manual for how to work.
For its free service, Nebula is taking 6-8 weeks to come up with DNA sequencing results, which can be downloaded either VCF or BAM.
In a recent Reddit AMA session, founder of Nebula, Church wrote, “There are certainly valid concerns with genomic data being used for irresponsible and unethical things, but there is also an immense opportunity to provide value to millions of people.”
