- Nebula Genomics, a company founded out of Harvard University, announced recently that it is now offering a $299 whole-genome sequencing product
Nebula Genomics, a company founded out of Harvard University, announced recently that it is now offering a $299 whole-genome sequencing product. Nebula Genomics says that is the “most affordable personal genome sequencing” on the market. And now the company’s direct-to-consumer flagship test is available in 188 countries.
Nebula’s whole-genome sequencing offers consumers with a more comprehensive report than the genetic testing services of its rivals. Other DNA testing companies analyze about 600,000 genomic variants, but Nebula Genomics’ whole-genome sequencing analyzes over 6 billion genomic variants.
The $299 testing kit also includes lifetime access to results and analysis along with weekly updates based on new genetic discoveries. And Nebula recently detailed a plan to launch a blockchain=based data management platform for improving the security of the collected genetic data.
“We hope to really revitalize the whole space by making whole genome sequencing affordable, providing more comprehensive, dynamic user-driven reporting and by addressing privacy concerns that many people have,” said Nebula Genomics co-founder Dennis Grishin via MobiHealthNews.
Grishin founded Nebula Genomics in 2018 with Kamal Obbad and Harvard Medical School professor of genetics George Church, PhD. Church is known for an attempt to revive the woolly mammoth.
Nebula also recently detailed a plan to launch a blockchain=based data management platform for improving the security of the collected genetic data.
“We have been deploying blockchain for more than a year, which has such an immutable access control layer that really documents all access permissions you give to the data. So the consumer can say, ‘I will allow access to research for my data’ or ‘I will allow general data sharing’ or ‘I don’t allow it at all.’ So we document things like that on blockchain in a immutable fashion to really create transparency and help build trust,” added Grishin.
Since the company was founded, it raised a $4.3 million Series A round of funding and a seed round according to Crunchbase. The Series A round raised in October 2018 involved 12 investors and the lead was Khosla Ventures. Mayfield Fund, ARCH Venture Partners, F-Prime Capital, and Fenbushi Capital were also investors in that round.
“For the past 30 years, we’ve been working towards making personal whole genome sequencing affordable and accurate. Today, we have a big step towards this goal, reducing the cost of 30x Whole-Genome Sequencing to less than $300 and making it available to people around the globe,” explained Church.
