Biotech Values

[vinmantoo]

biowatch,

<In theory, the Human Genome Project answered these questions. In practice, the dream is not yet a reality.>

The Human genome that was released about 10 years ago was rough draft with many gaps and a large percentage of the total DNA missing. The next big move is to sequence the genomes of a lot of people so we can begin to get a feel for hundred of thousands of variations combine to affect phenotypes. The cost of sequencing individual genomes is dropping rapidly, and I just heard a seminar where it was estimated that in a few years, close to 1 million different people will have had their genomes sequenced. Even if you had your complete genomes sequenced, you would have at best a very crude estimate of probabilities for some kinds of aliments. They types of single mutations that give strong penetrance, that is common and easily predicted diseases outcomes, are quite rare. They hype over personalized medicine is very large right now.