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By:
Mostafa Ronaghi, Ph.D.
The
first book of life is being completed. It describes the human genome
consisting of 3.2 billion alphabets and its alphabets are of four
kinds: A, C, G, T. These alphabets are repeated over and over in
varying order across a one-meter-long DNA strand which exists in
each cell in an organism. For biologists, though, this code is a
runaway best-seller. This book is sparking the revolution in biology.
Biotechnology - technology employing biological molecules - is not
a new science. Humans have used it for thousands of years. There
is no exact history of how long humans have been able to make bread
and yogurt, but there is evidence that people in Iran were able
to make wine 8000 years ago and made beer 2300 years ago. What makes
biotechnology so hot now? It is Genomics, a science that determines
the interaction of genes. Genomic technologies have allowed us to
crack the genetic codes, which has given an insight into biology.
We are now going through a revolution, a revolution in life sciences.
Genomics is the science about genome, about how genes interact with
each other. The genome consists mainly of two almost identical one-meter-long
DNA in each cell on which about 30,000 genes reside. In the spring
of 2003, the first complete genome of one human will be published,
a book with a thickness of 200 phone catalogs. While this book will
be similar by more than 99.9% for all six billion humans on earth,
its variation will make each individual unique. A global library
will in future be made consisting of all six billion books clustered
by each population and sub-population. The differences, which is
less than 0.1%, in these books will tell us why we are prone to
different diseases, why we respond differently to each drug, why
we like some specific smells, why we behave differently, and why
we look different. In some cases, even one simple variation, a G,
say, in one of your gene sequences, where your neighbor has a C
can spell trouble. National Institute of Health (NIH) is now granting
100 million dollars to researchers to determine genetic variations
in a few hundred people from different populations. This will tremendously
help scientists to find the genes associated with different diseases.
While progress is being made on the genomic level, other sciences
are now looking for opportunities to expand in this field. These
include computer science, mathematics, electrical engineering, and
as such to provide new tools to address the questions and needs
in medicine, ecology and environmental engineering.
Is
biology the ultimate core of science convergence?
Humans
care mostly about their health, at least when they find that they
maybe suffering from a disease they pay any price to find a cure.
Probably this is why economy is finding this field attractive and
in the coming decades we will see convergence of other sciences
into biology. Biology and electronics, for instance, have long existed
in separate universes. Biological molecules, like DNA and protein,
are roughly a few nanometers in size, and because physicists and
chemists are now learning how to make electronic devices on exactly
the same size scale, these universes are colliding. The result is
a new class of devices that combine the ability of biological molecules
to selectively bind with other molecules with the ability of nano-electronics
to instantly detect the slight electrical changes caused by such
binding. What is really interesting is that biological molecules
are inorganic in nature meaning that they can be combined with the
inorganic components that would normally be nestled inside an electrical
chip. You may have heard about DNA and protein chips. These chips
are silicon or glass chips with DNA on them. Semiconductor based
chips with fancy electronics for detection and signal processing
can serve for sensitive DNA detection or sequencing. Nano-electrical
devices will be made during the coming decade enabling single molecule
detection in blood or saliva. As these molecules are charged, sophisticated
labeling and optics may be omitted, making direct sensitive detection
of biological molecules amenable. Shrinking down such ultra-sensitive
devices so that they can be put on chips could have numerous applications
in diagnostics. For instance, such chips can be inserted in to communication
devices, (such as cell phones) allowing someone to do direct testing
of dangerous bacteria, viruses or specific genetic components. Also
it will be possible to look at the genetic variation and give an
accurate prediction whether a drug will have a positive effect on
an individual. Furthermore, it may be possible to predict how long
and at what dosage a drug should be used, a concept that is now
termed as personalized medicine. In 20 years, you probably would
not need to go to primary doctors and you will go directly to fewer
specialist as these devices guide you to your problem.
Beyond
Genomics
Genomics
is a forerunner of other. We are now hearing emergence of other
fields such as Proteomics (the science of protein), Metabolomics
(the science of metabolites), Transcriptomics (the science of transcriptom),
Systeomics (the science of system biology) and slang terms like
Bibleomics, which means reading the literature. These sciences help
us to understand what is encoded in the genome. Some of them will
rise as a sustainable field in the industry and others may contribute
to a better understanding of the genome and may disappear after
a while. Metabolomics will probably be the most emerging field as
it provides the ultimate answer of what is going on in an organism
and nanoelectronics may allow single molecule measurement.
A
Perspective of the Genomics Industry
Currently,
the pharmaceutical market is about $400 billion industry. The Genomics
Industry, which serves mainly the pharmaceutical market, is now
a $6-7 billion market. However, this market is predicted to grow
to 180 billion dollars in less than 20 years. Now that all 3.2 billion
genetic code that make up the human genome have been deciphered,
genomics industry is emerging to capitalize on when and where those
genes are active and on identifying and determining the properties
of the proteins the genes encode. For instance, genomics can give
predictions about toxicity of a drug and can find better drug targets.
The cost of developing a drug from the start to marketing is about
$800 million. It is expected that genomics will shorten the drug
development time and also decrease the cost to about $200 million.
As the cost decreases, population-specific drugs will be cost effective
to develop. These drugs will have less side effects as they will
be specific for a population or even tailored for an individual
and we will see dramatic decrease in the number of deaths caused
by the side-effects of drugs (currently side-effects of drugs is
ranked number four in causing deaths in the United States). It is
expected that number of drugs will increase from hundreds to tens
of thousands in a few decades.
Fast and inexpensive microelectronics revolutionized the world of
computing and information technology. Whether nanoelectronics can
revolutionize biology remains uncertain. But the gap between electronics
and biology is fast closing specially when the dot-com world has
crashed and scientists in other fields are looking into biotechnology.
Multi-disciplinary sciences with focus on biology will be a hot
investment for the next decade.
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