Common use of Technical Challenges Clause in Contracts

Technical Challenges. The challenge, constrained by economics and time, is to produce a finished genome sequence at a cost of under $0.10 per base at a rate of 600 Mb per year, in order to complete the genome for under $300 million dollars in a five-year period. Physical maps of the genome are now estimated to contribute less than 1 penny per base to the finished sequence cost (Lander et al., 1995) and to be nearly complete in time for the start of large scale sequencing of the human genome. This leaves $0.09 per base to go from the physical map to assembled and finished sequence. The most successful high-throughput DNA sequencing centers in the world are currently Principal Investigator/Program Director (Last, first, middle): Went, Gregory T. ---------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- producing C. elegans sequence from physical maps at $0.50 per finished base at a rate of 10 Mb/year (Sulston et al., 1992; Wilson et al., 1994 ). The rate and cost of sequencing complete bacterial genomes and yeast chromosomes is comparable. To meet the HGP goals, it is necessary to increase the rate of production of finished sequence 60-fold while decreasing the cost 5-fold over these current projects. The logistical concerns of genome-scale DNA sequencing are essentially those derived from the need to increase throughput and reduce cost. This can only be done by improved technology integration and automation. Historically, the introduction of fluorescent four color sequencing into the life science research market enabled the sequencing of individual clones, small contiguous regions, and, when pushed to the limits of the original technology, the sequencing of the first complete bacterial genome (Fleischmann et al., 1995). An early 4-dye commercial instrument produced by Applied Biosystems, Inc., the ABI 373, and its subsequent replacement, the 377, were not designed with the logistics of large scale genomic sequencing in mind. Specifically, these instruments were not designed to efficiently integrate into a "factory environment" consisting primarily of robotic sample handling automated within an informatics framework.