h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Very interesting subject, but we are just at the beginning of this revolution. Here is what I think should happen the next couple of years (and I do think it will happen).

A) We should continue sequencing at full speed, and in two directions: 1) we should sequence as many new species as possible, for reasons of comparison, taxonomy,... I read somwhere these days that if we apply Moore's law to genomics (meaning that the speed of sequencing would double, and the cost would half every 18 months) that it should only take us 30 years to sequence at least 1 organism from all the living species on earth for a cost no bigger than that of the human genome project. (This prediction is to be taken with a grain of salt, because there will never be the academic-private rivallery to be the first to sequence all species, nor will there be the budget, not even to mention we only have found 10% of all living species) 2) we now have "the" human genome sequenced wich will function as a standard. What we will see next is a massive growing number of individuals who will let their DNA sequence what in a near future gives will give us things like prescriptions suited to your genetic makeup (personalisised medicine)

B) OK, we're having all these sequences, but now we have to extract information from them. Finding where the genes lie, for which proteins they code, what the 3D-structure of these proteins is, how all those proteins react with each other in a cell, between cells, in a tissue, in an organism. When we put all these data together we should be able to make a simulation on a computer of biochemical processes in an organism. When you can run a simulation, you can change a parameter (for example, insert a mutation in the DNA), and see how the organism reacts. This should lead to better understanding of diseases and preciser targets for cures.

For those who see this future, and the oppurtunities that lie within, a bright future awaits you!

Good luck,
Jeroen

I sincerely hope A) is going to happen, and I can't see it not happening. I know there are people out there who are sequencing organisms solely because the branch of the evolutionary tree that contains them has not had a genome sequenced (someone at the Joint Genome Institute I think).

My whole PhD, that I'm starting in September, is based on the assumption that whole genome sequence data will come flooding into the public domain at an exponential rate. I want to be equipped for this day. I'm going to be learning (and developing I suppose) all the computer science, molecular biology and evolutionary theory necessary to take advantage of these data for both evolution studies and perhaps even pharmaceuticals (where most researchers do not have good enough evolutionary backgrounds - nothing in biology makes sense without evolution). I've worked in a Genomics Institute (the one that sequenced the rice genome) and I have a pretty decent feel for the subject. It's good to meet someone else who has had the foresight to see the day when all, or a huge number, of organisms will have had their genomes revealed.

Re: B) I think for yeast there has already been a 'protein interaction map' made. I would love to see a computer simulation of a cell, though all the computer people I know abhor the fuzziness and unpredictability of biology, so they might not appreciate it when their models might not work,

Thanks for commenting.

Oh, and welcome to h2g2 by the way! I hope you will settle down here, it's a great place to hang out.



Ste