Genomics, microarrays (and other terms that were coined since we graduated): why medicine in the 21st Century will be predictive, preventative and personalized
Abstract: The human genome project has opened a new portal into the detailed structure of biological systems. Now that we have the sequences of all of the genes and proteins of humans and many other species, it has become possible to ask integrated questions about entire living systems – cells, tissues, and organisms. This so-called “systems biology” approach is being pursued by a number of faculty in the Department of Biological Sciences, with targets that include plants, microbes and animal cells. Dr. Louis Sherman’s interests relate to photosynthetic microbes and he will talk generally about the approaches his lab and others in the Microbiology group are using to understand how these ostensibly simple (but, in reality, highly complex) organisms function under a variety of conditions. Microbes have some wonderful advantages for such studies—they can grow fairly rapidly, they have a smaller set of genes (~3,000 to 6,000 genes) and one can construct defined mutations. The completion of a microbial genome sequence is only the beginning of the analysis (and the fun). One can then make copies of representative parts of each gene and deposit them on a glass slide (a microarray). This then enables scientists to monitor changes in gene transcription for each gene under any specific condition—changing nutritional conditions, a mutation in one or more genes, or the interaction of a host with a pathogen. Similar techniques now exist to monitor large-scale changes in protein levels and even to monitor changes in metabolite concentrations.
All very nice—but, what does it mean? This is where the concept of systems biology arose—the organism is far more than the sum of the parts, so what do we do with all of this data? At the heart of systems biology is the idea that it is possible to synthesize this data and make predictions about the emergent properties of the system—the results of the interacting parts of the system!
This breakfast chat will discuss some of the work that is going on in Lou’s lab using the above concepts and technologies (terms will be defined!). He will also refer to the research of some of his colleagues in the department who are working in this area. Lou will then end by describing how these techniques will make medicine a quite different discipline in as little as 5-10 years—it will be more predictive, it will be much more personalized and there will be ways to prevent diseases by knowledge of an individual’s genetic makeup. There will also be time to discuss these points and to hear dissenting opinions.