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DNA Project 'to Make UK World Genetic Research Leader'
mrspoonsi (2955715) writes A project aiming to revolutionise medicine by unlocking the secrets of DNA is under way in centres across England. Prime Minister David Cameron has said it "will see the UK lead the world in genetic research within years". The first genetic codes of people with cancer or rare diseases, out of a target of 100,000, have been sequenced. Experts believe it will lead to targeted therapies and could make chemotherapy "a thing of the past". Just one human genome contains more than three billion base pairs — the building blocks of DNA. Prof Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust, said: "I can see a future where genetics is going to come into every bit of medicine from cardiology to oncology to infectious diseases." "Twenty years from now there's going to be a plethora of those, we will have a series of mutations which academics and industry will have developed therapies for, which will be targeted at you and specific for that cancer." He said chemotherapy, which attacks all dividing cells in the body, would be replaced with such therapies. "We will look back in 20 years' time and think of blockbuster chemotherapy [as] a thing of the past and we'll think 'Gosh, what an era that was'." David Cameron has announced a series of investments across government, industry and charities totalling £300m ($500m).
There's a big difference between mapping the genomes of cancer patients and developing individualized treatments, akin to the difference between being able to read a novel and being the editor. As it is, we can't even understand most of the human genome, but I suppose this is a step in the right direction.
Please clone Princess Diana!
"The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
This is David Cameron we are talking about. His previous Big Bold Project involved attempting to build the great firewall of Britain to save the children from internet porn. He isn't one of those people who know how to size up a task...
We don't have to be 20 years in the future to look at right now and think what an awful thing chemo is.
The trouble is acting on that knowledge today...
My first thought on seeing this was that it's a way round the limits on the police retaining people's DNA records. Now we need everyone's DNA and to keep it forever, because, you know, cancer!
The sun still doesn't set on the British Empire. The phrase was and remains literal: It spans enough timezones that it's always daytime on British soil somewhere
So long as we keep control of the Falklands, the observation remains accurate.
This is possibly one of the very few decent things he has actually done.
Admittedly only so he can get more votes. Do all the bad shit as early as possible, "hey look we fixed the economy", now do all the really nice things so everyone jumps on-board again.
It's not like old people care, they are the voters anyway. And half will likely have forgot.
You can process genome sequencing data to get the same sort of information you'd get from a karyotype (translocations, missing or extra copies of chromosomes or particular cytobands, etc.), but at much higher resolution. Unlike a traditional karyotype it generally won't be derived from a single cell, though (which has advantages and disadvantages).
The US has shot itself in the head by forcing most genetic researchers to work in foreign nations. We are now somewhat of a cripple due to right wing forces and their idiotic moral wizardry. Mega billions of cash are lost to us as other nations acquire patents and develop products. While the right wing pondered the theoretical joys of morality in a stem cell other nations applied science and funding. The right wing in the US has turned us into Clown Central or maybe we should call it the Bad Comedy Club.
The whole school system of Birmingham? I think you might be exaggerating slightly. It was a few schools and has been nipped in the bud. Don't bother posting any Daily Mail links please. I live in Birmingham. I also was allowed into Star City recently despite being an infidel just in case you feel like posting that load of old crap as well. Let me ask you a question Mr OMG BRITAIN IS A MUSLIM COUNTRY. What branch of Sharia Law would approve of the recent gay marriage law?
Biologists and chemists have become quite good at going from genes to treatments; meaning, if you know which gene causes a disease, in many cases, you can come up with a treatment. The holdup for cancer has been that, genetically, it's not one disease but thousands, many of which haven't been characterized. By identifying the genes responsible, people will be able to develop specific drugs and treatments, and many cancers will likely become treatable.
But correlating genetic and medical data will be useful for many other purposes as well: predicting disease progression and treatment outcomes, predicting sensitivity and efficacy of particular drugs, etc.
Canada has spent over a billion dollars on genomic research in the last seven years or so, this is an interesting project but he's a bit shy of 'world leader' status with this investment.
- Michael T. Babcock (Yes, I blog)
What chemotherapy does is use toxic heavy metals to kill fast-dividing cells, in the hope that the fastest-dividing cells in your body are cancer cells. The problem is that the cells in your digestive system divide almost as fast, and are thus also killed off in the process. Chemo becomes a race to kill your cancer before you die of starvation.
The UK could send the Wahhabi radicals you refer to back if it were to grow a spine, but the other religious radicals, the pitchfork-waving anti-GMO faithful who are all set to derail the program TFA refers to, are locally sourced.
The UK is extremely invasive and their people are OK with it. They DNA collect on their people as well as monitor them more than most nations. Their national health service provides them the cheapest means to access such info and statistics. Combine that with their monitoring system and you'll get the first serious genetic to behavior results.
Democracy Now! - uncensored, anti-establishment news
oddly enough, there's actually already a project doing that .... they presented data at the World Congress on Human Genetics in Montreal several years ago.
See www.oxfordtoday.ox.ac.uk/features/what-makes-british
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