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February 29, 2008

Google Invests In DNA Sequencing Project

Duncan Riley

29 comments »

42.jpgGoogle has financially backed a project from a Harvard University scientist to unlock the secrets of common diseases by decoding the DNA of 100,000 people.

The project will be the largest human genome sequencing project in the world, and may lead to new cures for disease.

According to Bloomberg, the project will begin in the U.S., U.K., China and Sweden this year, initially deciphering the genetic makeup of 1,000 people at a cost of $50 million.

The new investment takes Google further towards its quest to index any and everything on the planet, having invested in genetics testing company 23andme last year, and more recently preparing Google Health for launch.

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This entry was posted on Friday, February 29th, 2008 at 6:07 pm and is filed under Company & Product Profiles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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  1. Google Expands Health Reach With Investment In Gene Sequencing Project | WLazorik

    March 4th, 2008 at 4:13 pm

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  1. raskin

    February 29th, 2008 at 6:45 pm

    Well, I guess I’ll be the first to say it - creepy!

  2. Marcus

    February 29th, 2008 at 7:10 pm

    Is this Google’s way of bridging the digital divide?

    marcus
    http://example.uservoice.com/

  3. syed

    February 29th, 2008 at 7:23 pm

    Dude, interesting to see what will they come up next

    Syed
    http://sirehdancengkeh.com

  4. Alex

    February 29th, 2008 at 7:23 pm

    BREAKING NEWS!

    Barry Bonds Grand Jury Testimony Made Public.

    Read the quote at the bottom of the story (..”building a house”. This maybe one of the funniest things I have ever heard.

    http://www.thesmokinggun.com/a.....nk=rssfeed

  5. setbrand

    February 29th, 2008 at 7:27 pm

    Please correct me if I am wrong, I’ve not yet heard google is going green and coming up with some program to combat global warming.

  6. Ashish

    February 29th, 2008 at 7:33 pm

    I think it’s great .. Anyway, talk about the founder of 23andme.com striking a gold mine with that marriage. Sure beats the VCs ..

  7. cop

    February 29th, 2008 at 7:52 pm

    Google 42… ROTFL..

  8. Bill Gates

    February 29th, 2008 at 8:26 pm

    Might they be trying to figure out what makes me freakishly awesome?

  9. whoopie

    February 29th, 2008 at 9:18 pm

    what a laugh! wait until the stock break 400 (INEVITABLE) and shareholders will be telling schmidt, larry and sergey to back the hell off of the science fair side-projects and get the share price back. if i want to invest in windmills, i’ll buy GE shares kids

    the googlers have never had to deal with hostile shareholders. this will be fun.

  10. Joe C

    February 29th, 2008 at 9:33 pm

    Once they know your genetic makeup Adsense can better target you. Scarry…..

  11. Don Jones

    February 29th, 2008 at 9:43 pm

    Is this yet another money-losing venture for Google???

  12. Duncan Riley

    February 29th, 2008 at 10:03 pm

    cop
    some one got it, I was starting to worry :-)

  13. Google Shareholder

    February 29th, 2008 at 10:50 pm

    So this is where my money is going.

  14. Free Product Launch Video Case Study

    February 29th, 2008 at 11:10 pm

    “The new investment takes Google further towards its quest to index any and everything on the planet” - Google is truly taking over the world!

  15. Sachin Tendulkar

    February 29th, 2008 at 11:16 pm

    42 why? DNA ~ Douglas Noel Adams? or do i read Hitchhikers way too much:D

  16. gregory

    February 29th, 2008 at 11:30 pm

    investigating dna is like looking at the skin of an orange and imagining you know something about the fruit, and the seeds, inside….

    it is the cause of nothing, is effect only, of something more subtle…

    but have at it boys, have to do something with your time

  17. Dheeraj Sultanian

    March 1st, 2008 at 12:28 am

    Wow - total distraction and waste of money. You cannot really learn anything from sequencing 100,000 genomes and all it tells you is comparative genotype/phenotype relationships, but nothing about environmental factors in disease. Leave these silly projects to government organizations. Sergey and Larry remind me of Nero, playing the violin while Rome burns - get your eyes back on the fries, kids.

  18. ViralKing

    March 1st, 2008 at 12:32 am

    a tiny %, a drop in the ocean, yeah :P

    And it has the potential to return 1000%

  19. ElbertF

    March 1st, 2008 at 1:00 am

    They should hire some white mice, or dolphins.

    So long..

  20. PixelRobot

    March 1st, 2008 at 1:49 am

    So, I can get my DNA sequenced for free and all I have to do is give Google all my genetic information? The future is here!

  21. Chris

    March 1st, 2008 at 3:19 am

    This indexing will be good for everyone and identify where the diseases are cropping up and so suitable treatments can be targeted. It is a great investment, otherwise these scientists are ignored by everyone, thanks to Google they can work without any financial worries.

    #5 Setbrand: Google has invested in a slew of green projects. http://cgullworld.blogspot.com.....ogle+Solar

  22. Duncan Riley

    March 1st, 2008 at 3:23 am

    Sachin Tendulkar 15
    The project is looking to understand the relationship between genes and the formation of disease/ life. It’s mapping life, and of course the meaning of life is 42. Combine this of course with Google Health and 23andme and Google want’s to know everything about everyone. 42 is always the answer :-)

  23. Julien Ricard

    March 1st, 2008 at 5:24 am

    What this company does is scary. It reminds me of “Gattaca”.

  24. Marcus

    March 1st, 2008 at 5:39 am

    Julien —
    “Gattaca,” that’s to be taken seriously. With the Federal Reserve lending out of control (killing the value of our Dollar), borrowing from China to finance a War (inflated interest rates), and Credit Reporting Agencies leveraging lower class workers out of decent financial rates - it’s only a matter of time before Insurance companies begin doing the same sort of “type-casting” for insurance premiums.

    This in turn would drive those with the means to create “designer children,” just so their Insurance rates would stay moderate. That path of logic is not entirely that far out. Pretty sad really.

    Marcus
    UserVoice.com

  25. Ian Furst

    March 1st, 2008 at 11:05 am

    google’s ability to crunch massive amount of data could lead to significant breakthrough’s but the launch of Google genetics and Google health so close I get the creeps about privacy. I realize it’s a major issue for them but it still gives me pause for conern, especially across international borders. I get the google genetics because this is major data crunching but google health is just a central repository for personnal info, not intended (apparently) for group processing. I think they’ve missed the mark with the Google health. http://www.waittimes.blogspot.com

  26. Dyde

    March 1st, 2008 at 3:20 pm

    Financial companies have for years tried to analyze and predict the market, but have failed every single time. DNA and environmental and genetic factors have complexity that is way above the complexity of the markets. So this is another waste of money for Google. Though this certainly has a potential to generate side inventions which Google could potentially monetize.

  27. jimmy fung

    March 2nd, 2008 at 4:20 pm

    I’ve been waiting to read about the results of the DNA test that you(I think it was you - Duncan Riley) got from 23andMe. Have you changed your mind about writing about this or did I miss it?

  28. Nikon D60

    March 27th, 2008 at 10:53 am

    So, I can get my DNA sequenced for free and all I have to do is give Google all my genetic information? The future is here!

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