PHILADELPHIA -- A research team led by Marija DrndiÄ‡ of the
University of Pennsylvania has been awarded a three-year, $1.5
million grant to apply nanotechnology and materials science to
the development of â€śthird generationâ€ť techniques for DNA
sequencing and to lower the cost of sequencing. The grant was
made by the National Human Genome Research Institute, part of
the National Institutes of Health. The award is part of
NHGRIâ€™s Revolutionary Genome Sequencing Technologies program,
which has award $14 million in an effort to enable the everyday
use of DNA sequencing technologies by biomedical researchers and
health-care providers. â€śWe are confident that NHGRI grantees
will continue to make major breakthroughs in the development of
technologies that will eventually lead to the ability to
sequence a human genome for $1,000 or less,â€ť NHGRI Director
Eric D. Green said. During the past decade, DNA sequencing costs
have fallen dramatically, a drop largely fueled by tools,
technologies and process improveme