Genomics: Through the Looking-Glass - Article

GENOMICS: THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS
“Curiouser and Curiouser,” said Alice

By Sara Pentz

The Distinguished Speakers Lecture Series at the Newport Beach Library recently led me to an intellectual awakening. Dr. Gregory Stock spoke on the Human Genome Project, and the audience was as intensely interested as I was in his commentary. At the very least, we were certainly intellectually stimulated about the implications and ramifications of the study of genes. As his literature states, “From genetic engineering to ethics, Gregory Stock has explored the evolutionary significance of humanity’s recent technological progress.” Dr. Stock currently directs the program on Medicine, Technology and Society at UCLA’s Medical School, where he is a visiting professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavior. He is also a senior fellow at the Center for the Study of Evolution and the Origin of Life. His talk tugged at my curiosity so I began some research into the Human Genome Project.

Begun in 1990, the U.S. Human Genome Project is a 13-year effort coordinated by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Institutes of Health. The Project originally planned to last 15 years has accelerated the completion date to 2003, due to the current speed of technological advances. Project goals are to identify all the approximate 30,000 genes in human DNA, determine the sequences of the 3 billion chemical base pairs that make up human DNA, store this information in databases, improve tools for data analysis, transfer related technologies to the private sector, and address the ethical, legal, and social issues (ELSI) that may arise from the Project.

While this is a huge mouthful, we can witness at least one immediate result of these stated goals, as a small number of convicted felons are being released from unjust imprisonment when the forensic use of DNA is used to review their cases. For this, alone, we should be eternally grateful to the scientists and entrepreneurs who devote their lives to this fascinating and revealing investigation. It introduces the possibility of real legal justice for all mankind.

A critically important feature of this project is the federal government's absolute dedication to the transfer of related technology to the private sector. The Project is catalyzing the multi-billion-dollar biotechnology industry. All this has encouraged predictions that biology will be the foremost science of the 21st century. Sales of DNA-based products and technologies in the biotechnology industry are projected to exceed $45 billion by 2009, according to the Consulting Resources Corporation Newsletter, Spring 1999.

In order to grasp how these scientific investigations will impact your own life, you must think in terms of 75 to 150 years into the future. This is a science where much of the technology has yet to be invented. Of course, there are short-range applications already transferring into the commercial arena. They include an assortment of results from research into microbial genomics, risk assessment, bioarchaeology, anthropology, evolution, and human migration, DNA forensics, agriculture, livestock breeding, and bioprocessing.

Molecular Medicine identifications, alone, could improve diagnosis of diseases, provide earlier detection of genetic predispositions to disease, create rational drug design, understand gene therapy, and control systems for drugs. Increasingly, detailed genome maps have aided researchers seeking genes associated with dozens of genetic conditions, including myotonic dystrophy, fragile X syndrome, neurofibromatosis types 1 and 2, inherited colon cancer, Alzheimer's disease, and familial breast cancer. Do any of these diseases hit you in your solar plexus?

This research will impact the lifespan of your children’s children and their children. The potential of living without inherited disease will benefit everyone, no matter what the individual’s philosophy, politics, or religion. As one immediate example demonstrates, a new era of molecular medicine is characterized less by treating symptoms and more by focusing on the most fundamental causes of disease. The impact on medical costs, hospital care, medical insurance and medication will be tremendous. Rapid and more specific diagnostic tests will make possible earlier treatment. Medical researchers also will be able to devise novel therapeutic regimens based on new classes of drugs, immunotherapy techniques, avoidance of environmental conditions that may trigger disease, and possible augmentation or even replacement of defective genes through gene therapy.

The continued study of genomics will help us understand human evolution and the common biology we share with other life species. Comparative genomics between humans and other organisms, such as mice, already has demonstrated that we share similar genes associated with diseases and traits, as spelled out in the research materials I read in preparation for this intensely complex subject.

As recently as April 2001 Gemini Genomics, a world leader in clinical genomics, announced that it has been issued a patent for a gene that can identify a predisposition to the type of high cholesterol that leads to the development of cardiovascular disease. Dr. Paul Kelly, Gemini's President and Chief Executive Officer, states: "This invention is extremely significant because it can be used as the basis for developing a diagnostic kit allowing physicians to identify patients with this disease. Physicians can then work with their patients to implement lifestyle changes or drug treatment. The discovery exemplifies the future of gene-based diagnostics."

Like Alice In Wonderland we are all on a curiouser and curiouser adventure into a wonderland world. Alice triumphs in the end. She retains a fundamental reason, fair-mindedness and sense of justice.

Reference: http://genomics.phrma.org/lexicon/

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