Sequencing everyone’s DNA as an IT issue
Craig Venter, the well-known DNA researcher, recently surprised the world when showing at stage with Tim O’Reilly at the Web 2.0 Summit.
A geneticist in a Web 2.0 Conference? Apparently, information technology and genetics are positively converging.
According to Moore’s Law, the capacity of computer chips - and related devices - grows exponentially year after year, and has been so since the 1950s. And the trend will probably continue for the coming decades, as was calculated in 2001.
The sequencing of Venter’s DNA cost about 70 million dollars. Currently, the cost has reduced to 300000 USD, and soon it will cost only 100000. According to Venter, DNA sequencing is an issue of information processing. That correlates the Moore’s Law to genetics.
In the near future, it will be possible to include the genome sequencing - and the likelihood to develop various diseases, be athletic, smart, etc - in the standard medical examinations.
And the implications and possibilities in medicine will be inmense by far. First, it will help the insurance companies to assess the risk of a person, in quantitative terms related to the probability to develop cancer, diabetes, obesity, blindness and a lot of chronic diseases.
But, the implications go far beyond that. There’s also the information privacy issue. Probably, some people won’t feel comfortable with sharing their DNA info with the world.
Nevertheless, Venter votes for the transparency in genomics. Tim O’Reilly even joked with the idea of "Googling a date’s DNA". At first sight, it looks odd, but it would be beneficial. Specially, if someone is planning to have children.
It makes my mind on the way to some businesses that would benefit by large with the democratic management of Genomics Data Banks. Pharmaceutical Industry, for example, would be able to lead their production cycles knowing in advance which diseases would be present more frequently by region and indexed by time.
And what about those women seeking for a donor to provide his sperm for an in-vitro fertilization? The choice could become very specific, by using very specific search criteria to narrow the result list. Did you ever want your son to be 6 feet tall, blue eyes and athletic, with a low tendency to suffer from Cancer, Diabetes and so on? It will be possible in the future.
Via: Webware
2 Responses for "Sequencing everyone’s DNA as an IT issue"
[...] Technofender - Where Sci&Tech are made easy for all of us wrote an interesting post today on Sequencing everyone’s DNA as an IT issueHere’s a quick excerpt Craig Venter, the well-known DNA researcher, recently surprised the world when showing at stage … in medicine will be inmense by far. First, it will help the insurance companies to assess the risk of a person [...]
[...] Technofender - Where Sci&Tech are made easy for all of us wrote an interesting post today on Sequencing everyone’s DNA as an IT issueHere’s a quick excerpt Craig Venter, the well-known DNA researcher, recently surprised the world when showing at stage … , smart, etc - in the standard medical examinations. And the implications and possibilities in medicine will be inmense by far. First, it will help the insurance companies to assess the risk of a person [...]
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