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Wednesday, May 12, 2004

Genomics: Reasons to be Cheerful

[Business Week, via BetterHumans] Here's a nice, modest, but quite upbeat interview online with Richard Gibbs, director and founder of the Human Genome Sequencing Center at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. In the quieter aftermath of the millenial triumphalist hype surrounding the Human Genome Project, he assesses the current scene of genomics and finds the problems are harder, progress a smidge slower, but the promises still inspire reasonable hopes. Here's a taste:

"Q: The mapping of the human genome was completed three years ago, but as yet there haven't been any real breakthroughs in new drugs and treatments -- and some of the first drugs based on new gene findings have flopped. Should we be pessimistic that results will take much longer than hoped for, or are there encouraging developments?
A: I do feel a bit better than a year ago. There's a phenomenon we have to have faith in -- that when we find an allele [a gene variant that differs among individuals and could be associated with a disease], it's in a gene that's contributing to a disorder.

Q: Is there a good example of this?
A: Look at the genes linked to schizophrenia. There are three or four genes, and a similar number has been found in diabetes and hypertension. No one has yet found a gene that causes a 10% to 20% increase in risk. But even genes that contribute less prominently to the increase in risk can tell you something about the disorder. Progress is happening slower than we would like, but it's coming along."

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