The potential of genome sequencing was recognized almost 4 decades ago, but the techniques to determine the DNA sequence were nonexistent or by very laborious genetic mapping. But as innovations in various other fields came to fore, so did in the field of genomics and with the advent of PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) in 1980s everything has changed. The first human genome sequencing took more than a decade and cost $4 billion. But a lot of discoveries came out of that single human genome sequencing but attempting more genome sequencing was very expensive. But in order to fully take the advantage of genome sequencing for human health, it had to be done on a large scale, cheaply and faster. It was an impediment till a couple of years ago but no more. The Illumina company came out with a completely different and very innovative concept to sequence genome in a parallel fashion to make it fast and easy and the most important thing, cheaply. Now, everyone can get their whole genome sequenced at much lesser rates ($3000 or so which will drop further in near future) and can know about any faults in DNA that might cause a disease or cancer in the future and make necessary precautions/plans in place to tackle such problems. I'm waiting for a day when doing a human genome sequencing will only cost $100/genome. The potential is limitless for genome sequencing.