Very interesting. Thanks for posting. HEALTH/LIFE BUMP!
How’s Grace??
Call me shocked. I would think the insurance industry would use these data to determine who they will insure (clean gene people) and who they won’t (people with “bad” genes)...
Because the Y axis of the scale is not linear, the decline on both is much MORE dramatic than pictured.
Wealth creation? Better, less expensive medicine?
The wholly unconstitutional FDA better fix that fright away!!!!
OH GOODY!
Genetic engineering placed under governmental control of “health care”.
What could possibly go wrong with that?
This is the building block for CRISPR. In China last year, twins were born with modified genes to prevent HIV.
The twins, called Lulu and Nana, reportedly had their genes modified before birth by a Chinese scientific team using the new editing tool CRISPR. The goal was to make the girls immune to infection by HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
Now, new research shows that the same alteration introduced into the girls’ DNA, deletion of a gene called CCR5, not only makes mice smarter but also improves human brain recovery after stroke, and could be linked to greater success in school.
These two girls are our first meta humans!!
I clicked through the article in violation of FReep tradition. The Townhall article seemed noteworthy; however, the guy’s website is a hard-sell bio and high tech investment newsletter. For only $100, you too can be in the know to invest in extremely future tech:
https://secure.bonnerandpartners.com/chain?cid=MKT379251&eid=MKT385353&assetId=AST92716&page=2
Ten screens worth of hyping new tech from biotech to 5g.
The value of whole genome sequencing is not as easy or clear-cut as this writer makes it out to be.
1) Everyone has at least one deleterious mutation. This is not an issue if the other parent of your children does not carry any of the same genetic mutations that you have.
2) We are products of genes and environment. You may have genes that predispose you to heart disease, for example, but if you follow a healthy diet and get adequate exercise, you might avoid the heart disease.
3) There are tens of thousands of genes that interact with each other, and we are still in the process of characterizing each gene function. We are a long way from understanding the complex interactions among all of the different genes. So don’t expect a whole genome sequence to tell you everything about your health. It won’t.
4) Having the whole genome sequenced also does not inform about the expression of genes, which are controlled by epigenetic factors, which are DNA modifications that do not change the DNA sequence.
5) Since cancer often arises from somatic (non-germ cell) mutations which often occur as we age, having a whole genome sequence will tell you nothing of your cancer risk. The exception is if you carry a gene variant known to increase cancer risk, such as the BRCA mutations associated with breast cancer. You can have those genes screened for specifically.
6) Disclaimer: I have been using the word “gene” above in a sense that encompasses more than its strict definition. I have used it to include the proteins and RNAs and their functions coded by functional genes, as well as control elements contained in the DNA which are not necessarily components of genes.
7) This is not a complete list of reasons genomic sequencing is not a magic tool to assess or predict health conditions. The bottom line is that it is another tool in the repertoire, not a universal do-it-all gadget.
This article’s half snake oil half tonic.
To see where this is going, watch the predictive programming (aka “movie”) called Gattaca.
Will it be allowed to distinguish male from female?
I noted on your chart 2008 the cost started huge down trend...From the article:
From 2001 to 2007, the speed and reduction in costs of genetic sequencing had been moving as fast as Moore’s Law – roughly doubling in speed and halving in cost every 18 months.
But something amazing happened in 2008… Genetic sequencing began accelerating at a speed five times that of Moore’s Law.
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No explanation for the accelerating price decreases...
Wonder if it has anything/something to do w/Obama...
Nothing will ever be the same again...the genie is out of the bottle.
Identifying immunity genes could spell an end to vaccines.
It's one thing to identify what I'll call 'sick' genes and another thing to repair the gene or cure the disease. E.g., if a gene is identified that shows the person will have a propensity to get cancer, unless that gene can be repairer the benefit becomes early diagnosis and managing the disease in its earliest stage. This is not curing the disease.
Would it be cynical to believe that modern medicine is more interested in managing disease as opposed to permanent cures because great fortune is made in a lifetime of disease management??
I agree with other posters that making our gene data public will serve insurance company underwriters to the hurt of those with 'risky' genes.
nice this to some degree helped Grace, but maybe I’m behind the times - i thought they could only map/decifer a portion of all a person’s DNA not full DNA?
“Screening parents.”
“Therapeutic selection.”
Denial of right to reproduce?
Compulsory sterilization?
Anyone who thinks I am alarmist, pay heed:
In Upper-Division Genetics Lab - circa 1978 - I was a captive audience to students openly proclaiming that the Federal government would have to use force to sterilize genetically inferior persons who carried the potential for recognized genetic diseases - in order to preserve the sanctity of the gene pool.
The teacher listened with a beatific smile to all of this. I felt like I was in a classroom full of future Frankensteins.
Read that date again: 1978. Some of those have been medical doctors for decades now.
I left pre-med on account of that horror.
P.S.
The most vociferous advocates for forced sterilization were... women.
give the gift to your loved ones that keeps on giving: one hundred bucks for genome on ancestery.com and five bucks to feed the text file into promethease.com for analysis ... many diseases pointed to with high probability so medical testing can be focused instead of shotgunned ...