Peter Walker, The Guardian
December 10 2012
Summary:
Over the next three to five years, up to 100,000 people with cancer or certain rare diseases
will volunteer to have DNA their mapped.
This is the start of a public health initiative by the UK government. They hope
that it will improve treatment and prevention of cancer. Genetic analysis
is an essential part of some medical treatments. Sir
John Bell, professor of medical sciences at Oxford University and the
government's adviser on genetics, said that the UK hoped to lead the
world in the practical applications of DNA mapping. He believes that DNA
mapping can allow scientists to deliver medicines and understand cancer and
other diseases more precisely.
The first complete map of the human genome was
finished in 2003. The endeavor took more
than 10 years to complete, at a price of 750 million pounds. However, since
then, the cost of genome sequencing has been decreasing, making it more possible
for scientists to use.
A target of this investigation will be cancer.
DNA analysis can detect genetic susceptibility to certain rare cancers, but through
genetic mapping, scientists hope to understand the development of cancer.
Relevance:
This article connects to our unit on Genetics
and DNA technology because it relates to real uses of DNA mapping, an example of DNA technology. It
illustrates how scientists apply the same ideas we discussed in class about DNA
technology to learn about cancer and other rare diseases. The article concerns the
DNA mapping of many patients to find treatments to these diseases.
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