Personal sequencing platforms will enter the clinical diagnostic arena this year, a majority of voters on a recent GEN poll predict. While 56.4% of respondents anticipate that sequencing instrument companies will continue to develop more user-friendly and cheaper technology, focused on the benchtop and clinical markets, 35.9% do not believe success will be seen this year and 7.7% undecided.
Research, discovery, and development applications still comprise the largest sequencing markets, but the largest market opportunity by far is in personal genomics and clinical diagnostics. Those segments are expected to reach $541 million by 2015 from $15.5 million in 2010. Recent advancements in next-generation sequencing have resulted in the advent of so-called personal genome machines. However, companies aiming at the clinical space will need to gain regulatory approval for their use in clinical laboratory diagnostics.
