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What keeps San Diego County's biotech cluster churning? Some industry observers say that success is simply in its DNA.
Anchored by gene-sequencing giants Life Technologies Corp. and Illumina Inc., whose powerful DNA analysis equipment is used in research labs all over the world, San Diego has become a magnet for biotech companies and contract research organizations that rely on sequencing technologies as part of their core business.
And as decoding DNA becomes faster and cheaper--evidenced by a major announcement from Life earlier this month that it has developed a machine that can sequence a human genome in one day and for as little as $1,000--the technology is becoming a core piece of more and more life science companies.
"It extends far beyond the Life Technologies and Illumina core that we have here," said Joseph Panetta, president and CEO of San Diego biotech trade group Biocom. "You can't downplay the importance of those companies, of course. But what makes San Diego different is our undercurrent, our extensive network of smaller sequencing companies."
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