Thursday, October 05, 2006

Ten million dollars

Did that get your attention? No, this is not the cost of my prescription drugs last month. And, this is considerably less than the $200 million powerball winning jackpot won by an Iowa couple. But, this is not about the money, it's about medical history!

What am I talking about? The X Prize Foundation, the people that brought you SpaceShipOne, is at it again. This time, the challenge is pretty simple. If you can map 100 different human genomes in 10 days, then $10 million is all yours. Here's a quote from msnbc.com.
“It’s like geeks are taking over the world,” [Craig] Venter [founder of Celera Genomics] said in an interview. “Who thought a scientists could get $10 million for coming up with a breakthrough technology?”
So, who's with me on this? I've got a computer and an old microscope (although it may need a new lightbulb). Of course, I don't know 100 people. So, we'd have to recruit them. Maybe I can get the Nobel Prize guys to help me. This is ten million dollars and medical history! What you do think? Deal or no deal?

9 comments:

NeoNurseChic said...

Deal! Sign me up!! I could use some cash! ;)

Empress Bee (of the high sea) said...

okay i'm in but do you have to know what a genome is? i could hold the flashlight so you could see real good! or go get you a coke or something. waddaya think? bee

Artemis said...

I'd love to help; in fact to get you started, here's my genome letter by letter:

chromosome 1: CGATCGCGATATCGTACATCAGCGATATCGCGCGCGATCGATAGATACATCCATACCAACTGACGCGTCGTCGTCGTACTCGAGAGCTCTCTCGTACGACGACGAGAGACTATAGTGT...

well, maybe you can call me and I'll fax it over to you.
A

INAMINI said...

100 genomes? I don't think I can count that high! Let me know how you do; it will be a wonderful story!

Anonymous said...

NO DEAL! Try fifteen million... :p

Anonymous said...

very interesting concept!

If I blog about your exploits doing it, can I have a share of the $$$?

Ha!

Since you tagged me for the Funeral Music Meme, I've now tagged YOU for my new Halloween-Themed Meme!!!

Boo!

Cinnamon Girl said...

Yikes, I get dizzy even saying the word "genome." How bout y'all count and I'll bring coffee and donuts :P

Biomed Tim said...

That sounds like a lot of money to me but it could just be that I'm easily impressed.

Wouldn't we need one of them "Supercomputers"?

How much does one cost? $9.99999 million dollars?

Anonymous said...

Hey sign me up if you need some one who can crunch the numbers...I am told that docs hate numbers...LOL