Fun and Fitness: Genetics study to unravel mystery
Did you know that any two humans are 99 per cent the same at the genetic level. Amazing isn't it? It really is when you consider how different each and every one of us is on an individual basis. However, it is important to understand the small fraction of genetic material that varies among people can help explain our individual differences in susceptibility to disease, response to drugs and reactions to environmental factors.
A few years back, International Consortium announced the 1000 Genomes Project. Think of the genome as the entirety of someone's genetic information passed on from their parents, which is made of all kinds of DNA and RNA. The project is an ambitious effort that will involve sequencing the genomes of at least a thousand people from around the world to create the most detailed and medically useful picture to date of human genetic variation. Now when you drink your friends under the table next weekend, you can show off your new smarts by bragging that they just don't have the genome make up like you do to keep up in the big leagues! In a nutshell, International Consortium are hoping to move forward by building a tool that will greatly expand and further accelerate efforts to find more of the genetic factors involved in human health and disease.
The catalogue that will be produced by this project is still a ways away, but the result will be used by researchers in many future studies with particular diseases. Now take a step back and really think about that. This is the type of scientific research that falls into the categories “epic” and “near biblical.” Such research will lay the groundwork for the personal genomics era of medicine in which people routinely will have their genomes sequenced to predict their individual risks of disease and response to drugs. Imagine knowing the potential risks that you or your loved ones are predisposed to before it's too late? But it doesn't stop there, the plot thickens! Tune in next week to find out how this project may shape the way each of us can eat an individually tailored diet towards successful health.
A few years back, International Consortium announced the 1000 Genomes Project. Think of the genome as the entirety of someone's genetic information passed on from their parents, which is made of all kinds of DNA and RNA. The project is an ambitious effort that will involve sequencing the genomes of at least a thousand people from around the world to create the most detailed and medically useful picture to date of human genetic variation. Now when you drink your friends under the table next weekend, you can show off your new smarts by bragging that they just don't have the genome make up like you do to keep up in the big leagues! In a nutshell, International Consortium are hoping to move forward by building a tool that will greatly expand and further accelerate efforts to find more of the genetic factors involved in human health and disease.
The catalogue that will be produced by this project is still a ways away, but the result will be used by researchers in many future studies with particular diseases. Now take a step back and really think about that. This is the type of scientific research that falls into the categories “epic” and “near biblical.” Such research will lay the groundwork for the personal genomics era of medicine in which people routinely will have their genomes sequenced to predict their individual risks of disease and response to drugs. Imagine knowing the potential risks that you or your loved ones are predisposed to before it's too late? But it doesn't stop there, the plot thickens! Tune in next week to find out how this project may shape the way each of us can eat an individually tailored diet towards successful health.
