Using DNA sequencing, Rothberg says, doctors in the not-too-distant future will finger genetic weak spots in tumors and treat cancer patients with customizeddrugs. (This is already happening at some cancer centers.) Kids born with rare diseases will get large portions of their genome decoded to pinpoint the cause, eliminating guesswork and misdiagnoses.
Someday a new style of individualized medicine will let doctors analyze the DNA in a patient's tumor, then administer customized cocktails of drugs designed to attack that tumor's particular genetic defects.