In recent years, there has been an extraordinary leap in knowledge of the human genome and its role in health and disease. A decade ago, researchers were tentatively exploring the first reference human genome sequences, which cost over $1billion to produce. Now, thousands of genomes from a cross-section of ethnic backgrounds have been sequenced. This explosion of activity has been enabled by unprecedented advances in sequencing technologies that can now sequence a person's entire genome — more than 6000 million bases — in days, at a cost of US$1000, with costs expected to fall further in coming years. The prolife ration of genomic technologies will have a huge impact to all of our lives and the first step for us is for us to understand what is it and where it is heading towards in the future!
