[SCIENCE] Decoding the human genome

It is estimated that over 100 million genomes will be sequenced by 2025. Efforts by large pharmaceutical
companies and national population genomics initiatives are already collecting vast amounts of data,
which will likely only increase over time. With the right analysis and interpretation, this information
could propel precision medicine into a new golden age.
A single human genome sequence alone produces approximately 200 gigabytes of raw data. If we
manage to sequence 100 million genomes by 2025, we will accumulate over 20 billion gigabytes of raw
data. Such a huge amount of data can be partially managed through data compression technologies –
certain companies are focusing on reducing the size, and thus the cost and carbon footprint of the
genomic data storage.