Modern Genetics Enters Daily Life

Main Category: Genetics
Article Date: 04 Apr 2008 - 2:00 PDT

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To present the first draft of the human genome in 2001, more than 200 scientists, 13 years of work and three billion US-Dollars were needed. Today, the complete sequencing of a human genome takes less than four weeks and no more than 100.000 US-Dollars. This enormous technical improvement constitutes the basis for a more detailed understanding of a variety of biological processes spanning the evolution of man, human diseases, or plant-environment interactions. It is also a precondition for utilizing genetical knowledge, e.g. for the construction of "living machines" in synthetic biology, for the analysis of individual genomes, or for the development of molecular therapies. Latest developments in these exciting fields of genetic research will be presented and discussed at the XX International Congress of Genetics, held in Berlin from July 12-17, 2008.

Today, sequencing genomes is a highly computerized process done by high-tech machines in a fraction of the time it took only a decade ago. "Now, sequencing technologies have come to a point where individual genome analysis is feasible in terms of costs and speed", says Prof. Dr. Alfred Nordheim, head of the Department of Molecular Biology at Tübingen University and the congress' Secretary General. "This will further expand our understanding of disease development, improve diagnosis and hopefully offer new therapeutical interventions".

One of the most important recent developments in medical research is the possibility to generate stem cells via genetical reprogramming of normal body cells, e.g. skin cells. The resulting iPS cells - induced pluripotent stem cells - might represent the urgently needed alternative for embryonic stem cells. Their use is ethically controversial and highly debated in society. In animal models, iPS cells have already proven their therapeutical usefulness: the team around Prof. Dr. Rudolf Jaenisch at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research in Cambridge recently reported that in a mouse model system the iPS cells successfully corrected sickle cell anaemia, a major blood disease.

Apart from medical applications, the availability of high-speed genome analysis helps to shed light on our species' evolutionary history and the mechanisms underlying evolutionary processes. Since all evolution is based on genetic changes, comparing the human genome with that of chimps or other more distant relatives explains, which changes have taken place as humans diverged from their ancestors. "We can now read and spell the genome in unprecedented speed and accuracy, and - because of this - there is a lot more to learn from the information we gather" Prof. Nordheim concludes.

While some scientists are trying to understand the past of our species, others are working on creating mankind's future - not in the random and tedious way evolution works, but in a rational and determined manner. "Synthetic biology" is the catchword for an emerging discipline that aims at transforming biology and genetics into an engineering science. The idea behind it is to design standardized versions of the building blocks of life - proteins, genes and cells - and then recombining them in a Lego-like fashion. Synthetic biologists thereby want to create novel and useful organisms, e.g. micro-organisms that "eat" toxic substances, produce cheaper drugs, deliver clean energy or replace damaged genetic circuits in human cells.

Modern genetics offers solutions for a variety of societal problems but at the same time raises concern. What are the consequences of the "reinvention of live" aspired by synthetic biologists? How do we deal with the medical information hidden in our genome? Can individualized medicine improve medical care and public health? How will privacy be protected? The need to discuss questions like these will be met with a symposium on Societal, Ethical and Legal Issues of Genetics (SELIG) at the XX International Congress of Genetics.

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