Abstract
Human Genome Project has not lived up to the hype on beating disease, but new alcohol abuse study could change that.
It is almost 20 years since Bill Clinton joined Tony Blair to announce the first rough sequencing of the human genome to tremendous fanfare in June 2000. The president gushed at the audience in the White House:
We are gaining ever more awe for the complexity, the beauty, the wonder of God’s most divine and sacred gift. With this profound new knowledge, humankind is on the verge of gaining immense, new power to heal.
This hasn’t happened yet, however. We have identified the genetic basis of a few rare pathologies, such as this cognitive impairment, but our understanding of leading diseases including cancer, heart disease and diabetes seems little better than at the start of the century. The good news is that there might finally be a way forward – but first, the story so far.
It is almost 20 years since Bill Clinton joined Tony Blair to announce the first rough sequencing of the human genome to tremendous fanfare in June 2000. The president gushed at the audience in the White House:
We are gaining ever more awe for the complexity, the beauty, the wonder of God’s most divine and sacred gift. With this profound new knowledge, humankind is on the verge of gaining immense, new power to heal.
This hasn’t happened yet, however. We have identified the genetic basis of a few rare pathologies, such as this cognitive impairment, but our understanding of leading diseases including cancer, heart disease and diabetes seems little better than at the start of the century. The good news is that there might finally be a way forward – but first, the story so far.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Specialist publication | The Conversation |
| Publisher | The Conversation UK |
| Publication status | Published - 13 Mar 2019 |
Bibliographical note
Alasdair Mackenzie receives funding from the BBSRC and Medical Research Scotland. Other academics involved in the study receive funding from the Wellcome Trust.Keywords
- Genetics
- Human Genome Project
- Anxiety
- Genes
- Bill Clinton
- Mice
- Alcoholism
- Alcohol abuse
- Genome editing
- Genome sequencing
