Assertion Contradicted AI assessment confidence: 95% certainty 5/5 debate potential 1/5

Bisignano: Human genome sequencing costs fell from $3B to $1,000

Alexander Bisignano · Alexander Bisignano, Recombine // Genetic Testing // Data Driven NYC (FirstMark Capital) · Feb 18, 2015 · at 4:16

Alexander Bisignano, CEO of Recombine, explains the rapid increase in genomic data following the completion of the Human Genome Project.

0:00 / 0:06exact quote · 6.5s

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“We finished the human genome, and then for the next decade, the human genome, the cost to sequence it went from three billion down to 1000.”

quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →

The claim, plainly

Between 2003 and 2013, the cost to sequence a human genome fell from $3 billion to $1,000.

a quote alone can be ambiguous, so this restates it with the references and context of the conversation around it resolved. AI-written; the tape below the player is the source.

Assessment

The claim significantly misstates both the starting cost and the ending cost per human genome for the 2003–2013 timeframe according to National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) historical tracking data. First, the $3 billion figure represents the total multi-year budget of the entire Human Genome Project (1990–2003), whereas the cost to sequence an individual human genome following the project's completion in 2003 was approximately $40 million to $54 million. Second, by late 2013, the cost per human genome had fallen to approximately $5,096–$5,826, not $1,000. Illumina announced the $1,000 genome milestone in January 2014, and NHGRI center data reflected a $1,000 per-genome cost in late 2015 to early 2016.

NHGRI tracked the cost to sequence a human genome in 2003 at approximately $40 million to $54 million; $3 billion was the cumulative funding for the 13-year Human Genome Project.
NHGRI quarterly tracking data recorded the per-genome cost in late 2013 at $5,096 (October 2013).
The $1,000 genome benchmark was commercially announced in January 2014 and achieved in NHGRI center data around late 2015 to early 2016.

Checked against

[1] genome.gov [2] frontlinegenomics.com [3] historycambridge.org [4] ornl.gov [5] wikimedia.org [6] genome.gov [7] genome.gov [8] wikipedia.org

NHGRI "Cost per Genome" "2003" "2013" "2014" exact numbers Human Genome Project 3 billion cost 2003 1000 genome NHGRI DNA sequencing cost per human genome 2003 2013 data NHGRI cost per genome 2003 2013 chart numbers cost to sequence human genome 2003 vs 2013 NHGRI Illumina "HiSeq X Ten" "$1,000 genome" January 2014

assessed as of 2026-07-30

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Mentioned

Human Genome Project human genome sequencing

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Assertion Partly supported

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Assertion Contradicted

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Bisignano: Human genome sequencing costs fell from $3B to $1,000

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