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[[$1000 genome: GE bio-scientists work to sequence human genomes for $1000 each]]
[[Produced by Vivek Kemp for GE]]
[[male narrator] Biologists at GE's Global Research Center in upstate New York]
[are working on mapping a human genome for $1000.]
[The basic building block of every living organism,]
[the genome is the key to personality traits, to disease,]
[and even to when your hair is going to go gray.]
[Your genome is the DNA that your mom gives you half of what you have,]
[and your dad gives you the other half.]
[[GE Healthcare - John Nelson, GE Global Research Center]]
[[narrator] John Nelson is leading GE's team.]
[[Nelson] That's why you have characteristics of both your mother and your father,]
[your DNA in every cell of your body, you have the same DNA,]
[and the DNA is kind of like a big book, and the contents of the book is a story]
[that's made up of 4 letters: G's, A's, T's and C's, ]
[and the order of those letters spell out words and sentences and paragraphs,]
[and the words and the sentences and the paragraphs are genes]
[that are in your chromosomes.]
[It's a huge tool for the medical profession]
[if sequencing becomes so inexpensive that they can do it on all their data sets]
[and try to determine whether or not there are any genetic links]
[to whatever it is that the doctor studies. So it starts out in the research lab.]
[We have to provide them the tools to get the cheap sequence done.]
[What they really would like to have is the sequence from everybody,]
[so we can compare their medical histories with their sequence,]
[to find out if there are any correlations between the sequence that they have]
[at a specific gene, and how they respond to a drug, whether or not they are]
[predisposed to a certain disease, just to tell what kind of traits]
[that that person might end up having as they grow.]
[[narrator] Understanding what mom and dad give us ]
[could help doctors save our lives, he says. ]
[[Nelson] So, my father died of prostate cancer.]
[Did he have a genetic predisposition to it which killed him at the age of 56,]
[and do I have that in myself? ]
[Well, if we could sequence him and figure out what it was]
[that caused him to get prostate cancer at such a young age,]
[do I have that same marker, that same DNA sequence?]
[[narrator] Still, for potential benificiaries of this technology,]
[there are substantial fears about privacy.]
[[Nelson] The ethics of sequencing a human genome is serious,]
[and it is currently under great debate within the government as to how ]
[that whole process is going to be regulated. ]
[There are currently bills that have passed that make it illegal]
[for health insurance companies to refuse to cover you based on]
[It is illegal for employers to fire or not hire you]
[as a result of your DNA sequence. ]
[You know, the goal is for people to get a confidential report]
[from their doctor on what the result of the test was.]
