Genomics is information technology, and its productivity and cost reductions have evolved even faster than what we have seen within integrated circuits. Whereas the cost of a full sequencing of a human genome in 1990-2002 was approx. 3 bio. USD and the time required 12 years (actually, between 1990 and 1996 it was closer to 600 years), the same can now be done for approx. 10-15.000 USD within a couple of weeks, and it is expected to get down below 1.000 dollars and a single day soon.

The next logical development in genomics is hugely increased diversification and de-centralizing. We should expect huge libraries of genetic snippets with defined functions in defined environments. This would be similar to what we have seen in the software industry, where programmers often use standard algorithms that they can easily integrate into the larger whole. In fact, it should over time become so cheap and easy to sequence DNA that people will start doing it themselves. This will partly be with the aim to get medical- and health advice, but it will also lead to experimentation and a wide diversity of DNA “Apps”.

Emerging technology # 2: biological cell simulation

We are probably now approx 10 years from the time where the largest computers are able to simulate everything that happens in a single cell of a living organism. When we reach that point, we can ask giant computers to simulate the effects of millions of different potential medical treatments, and we can develop software that uses artificial intelligence to help computers zoom in on the most promising solutions. The result of this will be that the speed of innovation and in biotech will increase dramatically while the cost will decline.

Emerging technology # 3: stem cells and printing of body parts

Do you have a problem with the meniscus in your knee? Well, here is an idea for a solution. First you do a 3D scan to determine the exact shape it should have (and had, before you ripped it). The result of this scan is then automatically fed into a 3D printer, which melts a number of plastic layers into a 3D mould with the shape of surrounding of your meniscus. Stem cells are now taken from your body and inserted into the mould where they grow a new meniscus.

Stem cell treatments have already been used for treatment of some deceases such as leukaemia and lymphoma for a number of years, but the treatment possibilities in the future may include many other cancers as well as deafness, blindness, brain damage, spinal cord injury, missing teeth, sclerosis, graft, Crohn’s disease, diabetes, infertility and general wounds.

Emerging technology # 4: Personalized medicine

As genetic sequencing and analysis become far cheaper and more effective, the path for personalized medicine is getting paved. This might be particularly relevant for cancers, where sampling of individual cancer cells may reveal exactly what has gone wrong genetically and thus lead to proposed cures that target that particular error.

For people with chronic genetic diseases, it may be possible to create a virus infection with a virus containing exactly the string of DNA which can counteract or cure the specific problem, either by silencing defect genetic coding through so-called “antisense” strands of DNA or RNA that binds to specific sections of your genomes to block their activity, or by adding what might be missing. These can be in the form of plasmids / small pieces of DNA that are not inserted into the patient’s own DNA, but which will never the less replicate each time the patient’s cells split.

Other examples of personalized medicine can include simply choosing the one among many standard medications that is less likely to create side effects with a given patient – a discipline called “pharmacogenetics”.

Emerging technology # 5: Synthetic Plasmids

In genomics, the term “plasmids” refer to DNA molecules are separate from the main DNA. Typically they have a size from 1.000 to one million base pairs versus 3.2 billion base pairs in the human genome (the human DNA). In other words, they are far small than a promille of the human DNA. Plasmids exist naturally within bacteria and some other organisms.

Plasmids can be used for gene correction or editing. The main advantage is that once a cell is infected with a plasmid, it will continue to do its job there and can thus provide a permanent fix to problems that have a genetic cause, whether it be a malfunction that needs to be counteracted or a missing function that needs to be added. In other words, a plasmid therapy can in a sense be similar to downloading a bug fix for a computer program.