Omics
08 May 2013Tailored for us.
Written on 8 May 2013
This article is strictly for those non-biologists who have no idea about Omics/Genomics/Genetics etc.
Omics is a field of biological science that deals with subjects like genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, etc.
I participated in a recent webinar Genomic Sequencing in the Clinical Laboratory by a staff scientist of Illumina Inc., well-known genomics company, known for its pioneering works in the field of bioinformatics and biotechnology of clinical genomics. The talk showed some compelling facts which convince audience that the process of establishing consumer genomics is getting into a comprehensive, strategic shape. The entire WWW is filled with petabytes of information, discussion forums yelling for the voices to be heard, advancements of industries with their noise full of pride, career aspirants wandering through the enticing mazes of high-pay-claiming genomic companies, investors getting excited about the emerging revenue-generators, seemingly lucrative business opportunities, researchers contemplating on bringing related dreams into realizable reality, philosophers speculating on where this is all going and so on.
Anything that you do with a gene, genome, DNA, RNA, transcriptome, protein, or proteome is considered to be a sacred activity promising unending rewards and unbelievable upgrades in our current critical life. The federal agencies and stakeholders who are in support of the ongoing debate on climate changes derive colossal amounts of statistical information on at what risk we humans are living in, considering the rate at which world population grows, the rate at which we humans are contributing to the fast draining of energy reservoirs and resources, and they also worry about extinction of several species and the causes. This cult community of scholars also warn us with numbers such as: we need 70% of more food for survival by 2050 based on the estimated population growth by then; or the amount of electricity we need by 2050; or many documentaries use the metaphor,
“The earth is already at the verge of what it can provide for life to continue on it.”
Midst of all this haze and deluge, one form of science steps forward to say, “I am your hope!”
That is gene-related science. Wherever you see a gene in this write-up, you can replace it with words such as the ones mentioned at the start of the last paragraph, or any other thing that is ‘sequencible’ using next generation technologies. This field is promising, with its strategic contributions, broadly threefold. Studies of genes are expected to blow away the conundrum of food security, involving deep into the crop analysis and yield, and livestock production development endeavors. These studies have been making their unremitting efforts in twigging the whole set of pros and cons of single-cell enigmatic phantom-like pathogens and bacteria. Biology concluded long ago that some bacterium that is lethal for a human can be medicinal for a plant, poisonous for an organ can be savior for another, or its presence in one medium can be detrimental, while its absence can be the same in another medium. And the third but the most important application is for fellow humans!
In terms of plant genomics, consider you have a farm field of wheat and you found that something went wrong with it. This year’s production is, say, less than the last year’s by about 10% (very significant and dangerous). Now you take a sample from your field to a genomics lab nearby, rip open it to catch hold of the cells, and take one genome out of it. Now slice the genome into pieces because it can be too wildly long for you to hold it. Now leave it to the lab owner to determine where on those pieces was the problem (called mutation), that was causing lower production. Then the lab techniques can be used to repair the mutation, or give the right drug which can nail the problem down in your field. That’s it, crop production is done! Although my non-technical description somewhat meaninglessly simplified the real procedure, I bet this science is giving lot of techniques to raise crop yield in many countries already. This work might involve to a great extent the genomic study of bacteria, fungi, virus, etc. Because in some case, including in the case of animals, it is perhaps this bacterial and viral matter which might cause severe diseases. On one of the recent prolific science communication articles on Wired by the “Digital Life” columnist, David Rowan, there is a point on how humans are already robotics-driven, if we are feeling uneasy without a smart phone in our hands. If Rowan plans to write on genomics, I am sure he might call all organisms on this planet are born robots, super computers and data-flyers.
The entire conglomerate of world literary population is fervently awaiting the opportunity to see and experience the chronicles to be written by the field of DTC Genomics, Direct-to-Consumer. Imagine the day when you caught sever cold and call a medical doctor over the phone for an appointment, and his first question is, “Before I can help you, can I have your genomic ID please?” or “Before I know what the problem is, would you please tell us what species you belong to?”, etc. According to the stalwarts in the field, this day is not too long.
How would you react if you come out of your house for the first early morning walk of the day and find a van standing at the corner of your street? The van’s body is covered with graphical designs, flashing colors, a huge double helix winding its body starting from the right rear tire to the left, and huge cartoon-like star on a window where you get to read, “Know Your Ancestors @ Your doorstep” kind of loud-speaking jargons. This is not in Utopia, it’s happening in New York. The huge van/truck in New York is called Health Street, providing you on-the-spot DNA testing for paternity information and your health analytics. Genomics technology is going to metamorphose the entire conditioned lifestyle, particularly while modeling the personalized medicine concept in a shape that is stranger than any fiction.
If your tummy is still not content with such examples, let us look at totally unanticipated possibilities by Genetic engineering. What would you say if I tell you that you can design the kind of baby you want to have in, say, the next summer? Alright, go ahead and tell the doctors that you like a baby girl with milky white complexion, big round eyes, long thin nose, lips like Monica Bellucci, height like the father, brains like Einstein, etc.
[Yeah, I know! The combination I mentioned here is really odd [lips like Monica and brains like Einstein? !What the ….! Hell no.]
But genetic engineers can make your baby as per your choices and product-deliver it in the womb. You think I’m going to make a sci-fi movie with this concept? No possibilities, because the concept was already used in several movies as fiction before 2004, the year in which the term “designer babies” was added to Oxford Dictionary. Setting the jargons and my exaggerations aside, the science behind this is called In vitro fertilization of children or Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnostics. In simple terms, it is to design a baby with some of the genes representing functional characteristics engineered to be present or absent in it; thereby anticipating a baby with the traits that the parent wants.
Gosh….too much! I remember when I was a kid I used to ask my father an impossible question just to tease my lovely mother, “Dad, why didn’t you seek for my advice on who to marry before zeroing in on mom?” This is only a speck in the entire sand-mass of what the aggressive Omics science can do to us. As a science follower, I am excited and you can see it in my writing.