The cost of DNA sequencing has been dropping for years. Since the $1000 genome claim, first made by Illumina in 2014, multiple companies have claimed a $100 genome, including Ultima Genomics—a relative newcomer to the NGS scene. Last year, during Ultima Genomics’ lunch talk at the AGBT meeting in Florida, Gilad Almogy, PhD, CEO, asserted that the company was ushering in the “Era of the $100 genome and beyond.”
Despite the vagueness of the word “beyond,” none of the attendees could have guessed, while eating their boxed lunches, that it would mean free sequencing just one year later.
Ultima
A slide from the Ultima Genomics lunch talk at AGBT in 2024.
But today, Ultima takes dropping the price of sequencing to a whole new level—to zero—as the company announced that they will provide three trillion DNA sequencing reads (equivalent to approximately 9,000 human genomes at 30x coverage) free of charge to researchers across the United States and Canada.
The announcement comes with the launch of the company’s “Count on Us” initiative where researchers affiliated with academic, public, government, or other non-profit institutions can apply for a share of the sequencing.
When GEN asked Almogy to explain the motivation behind the initiative, he answered, “We’re fairly new and we interact with a finite number of customers. But we work with them very closely. We saw our customers in a period of stress. Typically, [a company would] try to help with a customer’s roadmap, collaboration projects, and field support. Here, we felt the need to help in a more urgent way. Some researchers have had their budgets frozen or are worried about it. This was a moment where we thought we could help.”
“I love it,” noted Charlie Johnson, PhD, director of the Institute Genomics & Bioinformatics Service at Texas A&M AgriLife. “It is a bold idea to democratize platform evaluation by Ultima Genomics.”
“Ultima’s announcement is commendable,” agreed Catharine Aquino, group leader, Genomics Analytics Functional Genomics Center Zurich, ETH Zurich, “especially given the challenging times. It’s a smart mix of generosity and clever marketing—a good Samaritan approach.”
“This program not only helps the prospective buyers evaluate the technology,” continued Johnson. “It also helps those facilities that buy a system as their clients will already have tested and trust Ultima’s data. As a facility director, this is one of the huge questions that must be addressed before we bring on any new technology, ‘Will our clients accept it?’”
What’s the catch?
A company giving their product away for free is… unusual. GEN asked Almogy what Ultima gets out of the deal. According to him, the company benefits by “getting more folks exposed to our technology.” He added, “People have a lot of reasons not to try new technology. There is friction; there is the inertia of doing what you have been doing for a long time. What we get out of this is taking away the inertia that has prevented people from trying us. If they like the results, hopefully some of them will stay with us.”
“Prioritizing projects endangered by the current U.S. funding chaos is a clever move,” noted Keith Robison, PhD, genomics expert and blogger. “This is certainly a time when academic scientists will be interested in a fast, simple grant option.”
“Even though three trillion reads sounds like a lot,” Aquino added, “realistically we’re only talking about the equivalent of roughly 120 Illumina NovaSeq X 25B flow cells, worth about $1.9 million in market value.” For Ultima, she added, the cost is even lower (assuming the correct pricing and calculations) assuming their technology can effectively pool samples from multiple protocols without issues. However, she warns that this could become a logistical headache if their pooling strategy doesn’t perform as expected.
Aquino guesses that Ultima is also using this opportunity for “internal R&D to test how robust their system is across diverse protocols, all while earning points in the community.” But there is some risk, she noted. “If turnaround times fall short, it could backfire,” she explained. “In my experience running a core facility, even when something is free, users still manage to find reasons to complain.”
Regardless of how Ultima may benefit from this program, Almogy exudes sincerity when he tells GEN that the company is trying to help members of the community. He realizes that some people who get exposed to their technology for free might want to pay for it later. But if not, and if this initiative is nothing more than an altruistic act, Almogy asserted that “it is worth it for the community.”
“I will still be happy if that is all that ever happens,” he said. “If it turns into a sustained relationship, I will be even happier. But it’s not a must. If you do good things, good things come to you.”
The nuts and bolts
Eligible projects will receive between 10 billion and 100 billion reads (up to 300 bp each), equivalent to 1 to 10 wafers run on the UG 100 sequencing platform. Researchers are asked to provide Ultima-compatible libraries and submit project proposals of up to 250 words. Preference will be given to projects at risk due to recent unexpected budget cuts. Sequencing data is to be delivered via S3 buckets or GCP, and the output is compatible with standard analysis pipelines. Awards are granted on a rolling basis. Due to the expected high demand, early submissions are encouraged.
Submissions are limited to new customers, and only one application per PI/lab is allowed. Applications open today and will be accepted on a rolling basis through April 30, 2025. All libraries must be shipped in a single batch and received by June 30, 2025. Interested applicants can submit an application at https://www.ultimagenomics.com/count-on-us/.