Google Tech Talks
May 3, 2007

ABSTRACT

DNA is a programming language for living cells. The cell’s basic operating system, or genome, directs functions like growth and reproduction, energy utilization, and the production of useful compounds like ethanol or penicillin. With genetic engineering, new functions can be added to cells or broken metabolic pathways repaired. Until recently, genetic engineering has required the DNA molecule itself to be physically manipulated, a tedious and expensive process. Now, automatic DNA synthesis permits virtually any DNA code to be made from scratch, opening up genetic engineering to anyone with a computer and a credit card.

Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard, winner of The Nobel Prize in Medicine, gives a concise and illustrative overview of genetics, evolution, and cellular processes as well as a discussing of current ethical issues in human biology.

An excerpt from the American Scientist review of the book:

The subtitle of Nüsslein-Volhard’s book is How Genes Drive Development. That’s really the essence of her conception of developmental biology, a view that guides the organization of the book. She begins with chapters that introduce the genetic machinery, heredity, chromosomes, genes and proteins. She moves on to a brief discussion of the role of model organisms that have been crucial in developmental genetics and proceeds to the first of these, D. melanogaster.

Apple’s stock has shot up more than 70% over the past year, thanks to Jobs’ strategy of focusing on his most profitable customers and coming up with new things to sell them—the ultra-thin MacBook Air most recently—rather than just chasing more market share. [emphasis added]

~The 2008 Time 100

So what does this mean for personal genomics companies? Perhaps Knome with its $350,000 genome sequencing service isn’t too far off the mark.

NB: If you’ve got an extra $2500 that you don’t know what to do with, check out my list of DNA services you can buy with $2500.

What does DNA mean to you?

Here’s what Eric of Seqanswers says:

To me, DNA is the single most important biological molecule, in fact to everyone it is! That fact is motivation enough for me to study and try to understand it completely. It is also extremely important for fueling intense amounts of blogging.

The majority of U.S. tax payers this year will be receiving several hundreds of dollars in tax rebates. Here’s what people plan to do with the money according to a survey by the NPD Group :

• 42% would pay bills
• 21% would put the money into savings
• 12% would spend the money on discretionary items

How does this affect the potential market for genetic services? If people can’t even afford to pay for necessary maintenance medication, eye glasses, or diabetes test strips, how do personal genomics companies expect to expand their market for elective health services? And yet, direct-to-consumer genetic testing is more widely available in the U.S. than in any other country.

Where socialized medicine prevails in countries such as the UK, Singapore, and Iceland, it seems that people would have more disposable income to spend on optional healthcare. It would be interesting to see the uptake of personal genomic services in countries other than the U.S. although culture and legalities would be important factors as well. For example, are Icelanders more interested in and willing to spend money on personal genomics given that one of the more successful personal genomics companies, deCODE genetics , is based in Iceland and has published studies closely examining its citizens?

Eventually, personalized medicine incorporating genetic information will become a fact of life. At that point, genetic testing will be routinely covered by insurance as with any other laboratory test or become a hidden cost when pricing pharmaceuticals, i.e., a pharmaceutical company would cover the cost of a genetic test in order to determine type and dosage of a particular medicine. For now, however, it seems that it would be hard for most people to justify spending any of their disposable income on genetic tests or scans unless family history or other known medical conditions alert them to the need for extra information and vigilance.

How are you using your disposable income?

This DNA replication song set to Backstreet Boys is truly cringe worthy!

Oh, how I love bi-olo-gy (yeah yeah yeah)
It’s better than chemistry
And next time I have to go pee (I know)
what’s happening inside of me

As some of you already know, I am expecting my second child in a few weeks. Last night, I was reading The Last Lecture on my new Kindle (woohoo!), and this passage got my attention:

Ask yourself: Are you spending your time on the right things? You may have causes, goals, interests. Are they even worth pursuing?

In some ways, blogging is becoming an albatross around my neck. The wonderful aspects of blogging–learning, networking, educating–still outweigh the annoyances. But in my present condition, I’m not sure if I’m spending my time on the right things. The clock is ticking and my attention span is shortening along with my temper. And on top of welcoming a new member to our family, my family and I are also relocating to Singapore from London this summer.

While I’ll still be keeping my eye on DNA *cough* over these next few months, the rest of me will be quite busy doing other things. Instead of posting every day, I intend to spend much more of my usual blogging time having fun with my five-year-old and husband before our lives turn upside down.

I’ll still be here but maybe not jumping around as much as usual. (How can I when I’m about to pop?!)

Thank you all for a great year. I’ll be back before too long so don’t forget about me!

Tomorrow’s Table: Organic Farming, Genetics, and the Future of Food

From Dr. Ronald’s blog:

One of the major themes of our book “Tomorrow’s Table: Organic Farming, Genetics and the Future of Food” is that the judicious incorporation of two important strands of agriculture—genetic engineering and organic farming—is key to helping feed the growing population in an ecologically balanced manner. We are not suggesting that organic farming and GE alone will provide all the changes needed in agriculture. Other farming systems and technological changes, as well as modified government policies, undoubtedly are also needed. Yet it is hard to avoid the sense that organic farming and genetic engineering each will play an increasingly important role, and that they somehow have been pitted unnecessarily against each other. Our ambition in this book, therefore, is not to be comprehensive, but to identify roles for both GE and organic farming in the future of food production.

Another theme of the book is that the broader goals of ecologically responsible farming, and the adherence to those ideals, are more important than the methods used to develop new plant varieties. To this end, we have generated a list of key criteria
to help guide policy decisions about the use of GE in food and farming.

What does DNA mean to you?

Even if the structure of DNA was discovered more than 50 years ago, DNA means the future for me. As personalized genetics is getting closer to people, DNA will be one of the most used words and not just in the scientific community. Plenty of the therapies used in our time will be revolutionized soon and our DNA will play the main role in the future of medicine regardless the dangers it can lead to.