The Archon X Prize for genomics, following the success of the Ansari Space X Prize, will be awarded to the first team that can build a device which can sequence 100 human genomes within ten days.
University of Warwick spin out company Base4innovation has been selected as an official contender for the US$10 million Archon X Prize for genomics.
The Archon X Prize for genomics is the second prize launched by the X Prize Foundation, following the success of the Ansari Space X Prize.
To win the $10 million prize purse, teams must successfully sequence 100 human genomes within ten days for less than $10,000 per genome.
This accomplishment would be a revolutionary and much needed step towards personalized medicine.
With support from the University of Warwick, Base4innovation is developing a new high-speed, low-cost method of DNA sequencing which combines well-known techniques such as single photon detection and fluorescent labelling with nanostructures and cutting-edge methods of nanofabrication.
The team consists of highly talented and innovative physicists and biologists from University of Warwick, and Oxford, and Cambridge Universities.
X Prize team leader and base4innovation founder Cameron Alexander Frayling is a researcher at the University of Warwick and the inventor of the innovative method behind the sequencing technology.
Base4 innovation's team leader Cameron Frayling said: "The Archon X Prize is not about great distance or great height.
"It is about our ability - both as individuals and as a species - to look within.
"There is nothing more fundamental to who we are, no greater key to our ancestry and origin, than our genetic code".
Marc Hodosh, senior director of the Archon X Prize for genomics said: "We're delighted to have Base4innovation as our first international team.
"This is an enormous, yet attainable challenge.
"We welcome Base4innovation and other entrants from around the world to compete and focus their energy on winning this historic X Prize.
"Such new technology will help mankind better understand disease while advancing proactive and preventative healthcare".
Cameron Frayling said: "Given the inherent speed of our system, the sequencing of a human genome could be accomplished in a matter of hours and, requiring only low-cost consumables, has an expected cost of less than $500 per genome."
