As of last year scientists had mapped the whole of the human genome, that is, the complete set of nucleic acid sequences for humans, encoded within the 23 chromosome pairs of cell nuclei. Since then we have known ourselves as a species in a more thorough way than we ever had before.
It was two years ago that the Human Genome Project completed work on the female human genome, Mapping the Y chromosome took a little longer, bringing the job into 2022.
This was, then, the conclusion of a 30 year long project. The HGP was founded in 1990.
A thought.
Wasn't the whole genome mapping part of the never-ending War on Cancer? IIRC the idea was that a fullmap would let researchers identify the cell-level mutations linked to specific forms of cancer, rto design better medicines accordingly.
Has it helped? Are any new medicines on shelves in pharmacies (general or hospital pharmacies) as a consequence? Yes, there hasn't been much time since the project was completed. But it didn't have to be complete in order to begin being useful.
So: how was cancer harmed by this apparent victory in the war against it?
Comments
Post a Comment