An arrest in the decades-old Golden State Killer case.
A Chinese scientist creating the first gene-edited twin baby girls.
DNA is clearly changing our reality.
In recognition of National DNA Day on April 25, scientists at Arizona State University took time to reflect on some big questions: What brought us to this point, where are we going from here — and just because we can, should we?
As is the case with most dense subjects, the best place to start is usually the beginning.
Where it all began
The average science novice might point to the Human Genome Project that had roots in the 1980s as the origin of modern DNA science. But it goes back further than that, to the discovery of the double helical structure in the 1950s and the development of the sequencing process in the 1970s that unlocked the genetic information contained in DNA.
“Those were crucial technological breakthroughs that enabled the whole field to unfold,” said Robert Cook-Deegan, professor in the School for the Future of Innovation in Society.
He witnessed firsthand as genomics took on its current form in the late 1980s, when molecular biologist James Watson — the very man who in 1953 had co-authored the paper proposing the double helix structure of the DNA molecule — asked him to lend his science and health policy expertise to the Human Genome Project.
At the time, computing technology began advancing at a rapid clip, allowing scientists to study the whole genome at once instead of one gene at a time — for the first time, they had a 30,000-foot view of the building blocks of life.
The term genomics was coined with the launch of the eponymous peer-reviewed journal in 1987 and helped to distinguish the science from genetics, the study of inheritance that only considered one gene at a time.
This newfound perspective of the curious interactions and fascinating entanglements of the chromosomes and proteins that make us who we are ushered in an era of more precise diagnostics. By analyzing a person’s genome and comparing it to relatives, scientists could pinpoint differences and similarities in their genetic makeup that might make them more prone to certain diseases or conditions.
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Answer:
An arrest in the decades-old Golden State Killer case.
A Chinese scientist creating the first gene-edited twin baby girls.
DNA is clearly changing our reality.
In recognition of National DNA Day on April 25, scientists at Arizona State University took time to reflect on some big questions: What brought us to this point, where are we going from here — and just because we can, should we?
As is the case with most dense subjects, the best place to start is usually the beginning.
Where it all began
The average science novice might point to the Human Genome Project that had roots in the 1980s as the origin of modern DNA science. But it goes back further than that, to the discovery of the double helical structure in the 1950s and the development of the sequencing process in the 1970s that unlocked the genetic information contained in DNA.
“Those were crucial technological breakthroughs that enabled the whole field to unfold,” said Robert Cook-Deegan, professor in the School for the Future of Innovation in Society.
He witnessed firsthand as genomics took on its current form in the late 1980s, when molecular biologist James Watson — the very man who in 1953 had co-authored the paper proposing the double helix structure of the DNA molecule — asked him to lend his science and health policy expertise to the Human Genome Project.
At the time, computing technology began advancing at a rapid clip, allowing scientists to study the whole genome at once instead of one gene at a time — for the first time, they had a 30,000-foot view of the building blocks of life.
The term genomics was coined with the launch of the eponymous peer-reviewed journal in 1987 and helped to distinguish the science from genetics, the study of inheritance that only considered one gene at a time.
This newfound perspective of the curious interactions and fascinating entanglements of the chromosomes and proteins that make us who we are ushered in an era of more precise diagnostics. By analyzing a person’s genome and comparing it to relatives, scientists could pinpoint differences and similarities in their genetic makeup that might make them more prone to certain diseases or conditions.