Doctors from the Mayo Clinic in the United States plan to sequence the full genetic code of thousands of people that could lead to personalized health care.

The revolutionary project will see doctors use the genetic code of patients to better administer drug therapies and treatments. Volunteers will have all six billion letters of their genome stored and linked to their medical record. The Mayo Clinic plans to launch the pilot program early next year.

The program is part of a growing trend in medicine to use gene sequencing to provide more personalized care to patients. The information stored in a person's genetic material will help doctors prescribe effective drug treatments that might not work with another patient. It will also alert doctors of potential diseases the patient may develop which will give the patient more time to employ lifestyle changes to avert the disease.

According to Dr. Gianrico Farrugia, director of the Center for Individualized Medicine the cost of genetic sequencing has fallen so rapidly that it is now feasible to sequence a person's whole genome instead of ordering single genetic tests.

"We are convinced that whole genome sequencing is going to radically change the way we practice medicine," Farrugia told the Guardian. "The question is, how do you change the practice of medicine? We cannot expect doctors to say, 'Ok, we accept it's a great thing, let's do it.'"

Doctors often use genetic tests reactively to find out what went wrong in a patient's treatment. With this program, doctors will now have their patients' genetic make-up available from the start.

"With piecemeal genetic testing you only test for what you know. The advantage of whole genome sequencing is that you go after everything. Not only does that give you a fuller picture, but it allows you to draw complex interaction pathways that you cannot draw by going after select genes," Farrugia said.

Clinics and hospitals around the world are already thinking about introducing their own entire genome tests.

"Australia's National Health and Medical Research Council is fully aware of these international developments, and the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing is following the developments with interest,'' a Health Department spokeswoman said.