Since the completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003, a string of technological advances have made it faster and cheaper to sequence a human genome. But there’s still a big problem: what do you do with all that data once you’ve unraveled it?

For Andreas Sundquist, the answer is to send it to the cloud. Sundquist is the CEO and cofounder of DNAnexus, a software startup that positions itself between DNA sequencing facilities and those who need to manage, and glean information from, sequenced genomes—including academic researchers, doctors, and biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies.

“The more and more data you produce faster and cheaper, the more the bottleneck—which used to be the DNA sequencing itself—is actually now the data management,” he says.

Sundquist sees his company as an instant online genomics center, offering clients immediate access to vast stores of DNA data and to analysis tools so they can make sense of it all—and potentially come up with better treatments for cancer and genetic diseases, as well as identify genetic links to diseases like autism and alcoholism.

Eventually, Sundquist hopes DNAnexus will bring together lots of different genetic databases (which for now tend to exist on their own, without being linked to others), aiding research efforts, drug discoveries, and the creation of drug-targeting diagnostic tests.

And Sundquist expects the market for Mountain View, California-based DNAnexus’s services will grow dramatically. He estimates that about 20,000 full genomes have already been sequenced worldwide, and predicts this will rise to a million in several years as the price and time required continue to fall (right now, he estimates the process takes about a day and costs roughly $4,000). All that data will amount to more than an exabyte of data—one billion gigabytes—and hundreds of thousands of central processing units will be needed to analyze it all, he estimates.

DNAnexus isn’t the only company betting on this growth. David Dooling, assistant director of the Genome Institute at Washington University in St. Louis, points out that several other companies are offering cloud-based DNA analysis services, too, including Illumina.

“I think it’s certainly good that there are people that are trying to make analysis more accessible to a wider community,” Dooling says. “I think it’s a difficult value proposition in that a lot of people are trying to do it now.”

If Sundquist’s expectations pan out, there will be plenty of work to go around. He expects that in the next three years millions of genomes will be sequenced. In 10 years, he believes, everyone in the developed world will have their genome sequenced as part of their medical records, and that many children will have their genome sequenced when they’re born.

One day soon, “when you go to the lab and get a test done, some of those tests are basically going to be software that runs on the genome that’s already part of your record,” he says.

This doesn’t mean we’ll all soon be plucking a hair or swabbing a cheek and sending it off to a lab to get our genomes sequenced. In Sundquist’s view of the future, it will be even easier than that. “I think probably you’ll stick your thumb in your cell phone and it will be built-in,” he says, grinning. “I’m sure the iPhone 10 will have a DNA-sequencing module.”

BY RACHEL METZ

Worryingly for European policymakers, a downturn that is hitting Italy and Spain hard, now appears to be taking root among core members France and Germany.

The data hit the euro and dented optimism following a similar survey on Tuesday that showed the pace of growth in U.S. manufacturing picked up much more than expected.

“The numbers coming out of the euro zone give no cause for comfort. The China economy is holding up, but the debt crisis in Europe is weighing on growth and its rippling across the world,” said Peter Dixon at Commerzbank.

“Global concerns on growth are there, despite stellar numbers from the United States.”

Markit’s Eurozone Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) dropped to 45.9 last month from 47.7 in March, slightly below a preliminary reading and marking its lowest reading since June 2009.

It has languished the 50 mark that divides growth from contraction for nine months.

The outlook for manufacturing, which drove a large part of the bloc’s escape from recession, is far from bright, and a fresh economic downturn looms.

Firms cut workers at the fastest pace in over two years after new orders fell for the 11th straight month.

Data from Germany, Europe’s largest economy, showed its manufacturing sector contracted for the second month running in April and it was a similar picture in neighboring France.

Only a handful of the 17-nation bloc’s economies are still growing and the euro zone as a whole is expected to suffer a mild recession until the third quarter of this year, a Reuters poll showed last month.

Manufacturing in Spain, now at the centre of the euro zone storm, shrank at its fastest pace in nearly three years and Italy – also under pressure over its towering debts – saw new orders evaporating more quickly than at any time since March 2009.

The downturn is taking a toll on jobs. Unemployment in the euro zone rose to 10.9 percent in March, equaling the record high of 15 years ago, separate data showed on Wednesday, driven by rises in Italy and Spain.

ASIA PRODUCES THE GOODS

A gauge of China’s manufacturing offered more evidence that the world’s second-biggest economy bottomed out in the first quarter of the year. And factory growth in emerging rival India ticked up.

The HSBC China PMI, which concentrates mainly on privately-owned firms, remained below the 50 threshold for the sixth month running. But it rose to 49.3 in April from 48.3, hinting that the rate of deterioration had slowed, and was stronger than last week’s “flash” estimate.

“The pace of China’s slowdown has stabilized,” said Hongbin Qu, chief economist for China & co-Head of Asian economic research at HSBC.

HSBC’s indicator was weaker than China’s official PMI, which soared to a 13-month high of 53.3 in April, highlighting an ongoing divergence between China’s larger, predominantly state-owned enterprises that dominate the official data and the smaller, private firms that struggle to get credit.

Bulging order books helped nudge India’s factory activity up even as slower output growth and increasing price pressures dampened sentiment, its business survey showed.

Similar data released on Wednesday showed manufacturing activity in Asia’s key exporters South Korea and Taiwan grew but at a slower pace.

The uneven performance in China, taken together with data on Tuesday showing U.S. factory growth accelerating but barely any growth in British manufacturing, underscores a bumpy and still-fragile global economy.

“The effect of the solid U.S. manufacturing activity will be felt in Asia in about six months, supporting my view that Asian exporters will gradually recover towards the end of the year,” said Hirokazu Yuihama, a senior strategist at Daiwa Securities in Tokyo.

(Additional reporting by Yati Himatsingka in Bangalore, Lucy Hornby in Beijing, Leah Schnurr in Washington and Olesya Dmitracova in London; Editing by Mike Peacock)

(Reuters) – MasterCard Inc (MA.N), the world’s second-largest credit and debit card network, reported a 21 percent rise in quarterly profit as consumers spent more with their cards and revenue rose faster than expenses.

Executives cautioned, however, that such gains are less likely over the rest of the year because of the strength of the business in the latter parts of 2011, and given doubts about consumer confidence in the United States and in Europe.

MasterCard shares fell 2.6 percent to $445.59 in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Stocks fell broadly after disappointing news on manufacturing in Europe and private-sector job growth in the United States.

CEO Ajay Banga said that while U.S. consumer confidence has been roughly flat for two months, it is still higher than a year ago. Consumer spending in the United States, MasterCard’s home market, was up in all 11 categories the company tracks in the first quarter and was strongest at restaurants and at apparel, hardware and electronics stores, Banga said in a conference call.

Cardholders made $629 billion of purchases worldwide during the first quarter, up 17 percent from a year earlier, MasterCard said.

Card payments outside the United States grew 20.6 percent, based on local currencies, compared with 14 percent growth in the United States.

The number of transactions processed increased 29 percent to 7.7 billion, the fastest rate of growth since MasterCard went public in 2006. The increase reflects, in part, the increasing movement of consumers globally to making payments electronically instead of with paper currency.

Net income was $682 million, or $5.36 a share, compared with $562 million, or $4.29 a share, a year earlier, the Purchase, New York-based company reported on Wednesday.

Analysts on average had expected $5.30 a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

MasterCard net revenue, adjusted for an acquisition, grew faster than expenses, rising 16 percent while operating expenses increased 9 percent.

Visa Inc (V.N), MasterCard’s larger rival in card payment processing networks, is scheduled to report its quarterly results following the close of New York Stock Exchange trading.

(Reporting by David Henry in New York; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn and John Wallace)

(Reuters) – Stocks were lower on Wednesday as a weaker euro zone report heightened concerns about the region’s fiscal health and domestic data casts doubt on the strength of the economic recovery.

A report by payrolls processor Automatic Data Processing showed U.S. private employers added 119,000 jobs in April, well short of expectations, ahead of Friday’s key payrolls report.

Euro zone factories sank further into decline last month, with the downturn hitting Italy and Spain hard and appearing to take root in France and Germany. European shares erased earlier gains, with the FTSEurofirst 300 .FTEU3 down 0.7 percent.

The reports came a day after the Dow closed at its highest level in more than four years on strong U.S. manufacturing data.

“These aren’t good numbers this morning, they are certainly on the low end of expectations. However, in the broader theme you can’t look at these numbers alone, you can’t isolate them from the broader picture, which is continuing expansion, continuing improvement in U.S. manufacturing,” said Peter Kenny, managing director at Knight Capital in Jersey City, New Jersey.

“It’s at the low end of the range and I know it’s disappointing, but in the broader context it’s not really a game changer.”

Adding to the negative tone, new orders for U.S. factory goods in March recorded their biggest decline in three years, even as they came in slightly above expectations.

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI dropped 63.46 points, or 0.48 percent, to 13,215.86. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index .SPX lost 8.93 points, or 0.64 percent, to 1,396.89. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC fell 11.09 points, or 0.36 percent, to 3,039.35.

Energy was the worst performer among the 10 major S&P sectors, weighed down by an 13 percent drop Chesapeake Energy Corp (CHK.N) to $17.05. The S&P energy index .GSPE lost 1.4 percent. Chesapeake was the most actively traded stock on the New York Stock Exchange.

Analysts pointed to Chesapeake’s higher-than-expected natural gas output, up quarter on quarter, even as the company sought to cut production.

Also, Reuters reported Chief Executive Aubrey McClendon ran a $200 million hedge fund on the side that traded in the same commodities Chesapeake produces.

MasterCard Inc (MA.N), the big credit and debit card network, reported a 21 percent rise in profit. Shares were off 2.5 percent to $445.

CVS Caremark Corp (CVS.N) were up 1.9 percent to $45.55 after the drugstore operator and pharmacy benefits manager posted a sharp rise in first-quarter sales and raised its profit forecast.

American Eagle Outfitters Inc (AEO.N) jumped 12.5 percent to $20.13 after the teen clothing retailer raised its profit forecast.

Of the 350 S&P 500 companies that have reported results through Wednesday morning, 70 percent have topped analysts’ estimates, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Women’s clothing retailer Ascena Retail Group Inc (ASNA.O) will buy Charming Shoppes Inc (CHRS.O) for $857.2 million in an all-cash deal. Charming surged 23.4 percent to $7.28 as the most actively traded Nasdaq stock and Ascena gained 10 percent to $20.92.

Chipmaker Microchip Technology Inc (MCHP.O) will acquire smaller rival Standard Microsystems Corp (SMSC.O) for $829.2 million. Microchip added 0.3 percent to $35.35 and Standard Micro climbed 38.3 percent to $36.28.

Results are Wednesday from 31 S&P 500 companies, including Visa Inc (V.N), Whole Foods Market Inc (WFM.O) and Symantec Corp (SYMC.O).

(Reporting By Chuck Mikolajczak; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)