Saturday 15 November 2014

What 5G mobile networks portends for the future of personal genomics

ok I saw this a while back (a month ago, yes I have been busy) http://www.engadget.com/2014/10/14/samsung-5g-network-tests-oh-god-the-speed/

I am already very impressed with 4G (LTE) speeds but with 5G you can possibly achieve 150 mb/s to 940 mb/s which is mind blowing ...

Considering that you could then possibly upload via your mobile devices, your own 100 Gb bam file in about 10 seconds (sorry I wasn't thinking how much faster a youtube video would stream). Now Google is saying that they can store your genome (actually they meant your 30x WGS bam file) for $25 a year. But with 5G speeds, why would I even bother with that?

Heck, maybe in the future with an USB OTG cable connected to Oxford Nanopore's MinION your android phone will be able to sequence and upload in realtime your DNA obtained from a buccal swab. The cloud will have the fastq reads aligned and call variants instantaneously and download the 100 Gb bam to your microsd card.

Possible applications:

  1. Maybe in the future other than asking if you have a drug allergy, pharmacists will request to 'scan' your DNA for the most efficient drug. 
  2. another possible application might be having your DNA be your own personal identity card, 
  3. more routine sequencing of the human microbiome to monitor your health in relation to the gut microflora or other sites.


I am keen to find out what you think you can do if you could carry your whole genome sequencing with you and upload via mobile networks. Drop in your comments please!

Datanami, Woe be me