[Updated: 3:35 pm] Thanks to everyone who joined us yesterday for the latest Xconomy Seattle event, “Computing in the Age of the $1,000 Genome.” We packed the room once again for a highly engaging conversation about the state of the art in genomics. We dug into both the technical and cultural barriers that need to come down before this edgy science will come close to living up to its promise for personalized medicine.
We had a terrific group of speakers yesterday to engage with a sharp audience that kept them on their toes. The speakers included Leroy Hood of the Institute for Systems Biology, Bob Nelsen of Arch Venture Partners, Complete Genomics CEO Cliff Reid, PacBio chief scientist Eric Schadt, Rowan Chapman of Mohr Davidow Ventures, Rob Arnold of Geospiza, Ilya Kupershmidt of NextBio, Deepak Singh of Amazon, Jim Karkanias of Microsoft, Paul Rutherford of EMC/Isilon, and Tim Hunkapiller, a consultant with Life Technologies.
Special thanks go out to Swedish Medical Center for graciously opening up its Pinard Auditorium on the Cherry Hill Campus. Thanks also to yesterday’s event sponsors—the Institute for Systems Biology and Complete Genomics. And thanks to Isilon for handing out a nice little goodie for attendees—100 hardcover copies of Kevin Davies’ new book “The $1,000 Genome: The Revolution in DNA Sequencing and the New Era of Personalized Medicine.” They were all snapped up by the time I left.
One other thing I was happy to see yesterday is that more and more biotechies are getting serious about exchanging ideas on Twitter. We had some pretty lively accounts firing around Twitter yesterday, which were compiled under the hash tag #1kgenome.
Those following the Twitter stream found out fast that a certain Microsoft exec suggested to Lee Hood that Seattle needs an SGI, sort of like BGI (the emerging powerhouse known as Beijing Genomics Institute). Here are the folks I know who were Tweeting during the proceedings. I’m probably forgetting somebody, so if you were there and Tweeting, let me know at [email protected] and I’ll add you to the list.
Adriana Alejandro @alalejandro
Sally James @jamesian
Todd Smith @finchtalk
Sandra Porter @digitalbio
Richard Gayle @rbgayle
Tobin Arthur @tjarthur
Jon Izant @sagebio
Melissa Tizon @melissatizon
Jonathan Sheffi @sheffi
Deepak Singh @mndoci
Christophe Trefois @trefex [Added: 3:35 pm]
Taking notes, I’ve found, is pretty hard to do while you’re emcee of an event, but taking photos is another story. So I pulled out my camera and snapped a few images (which you can click on directly to enlarge). We’re just getting warmed up with a pretty ambitious event schedule for 2011, so stay tuned to this space for future updates on the next Xconomy event we have in store.
