Regents’ Lecture, 1/24/13
The field of medicine is changing rapidly, and Genomic Medicine is at the forefront of that change.
Most researchers believe genomics is the key to dealing with cancer, heart disease, diabetes and more. Since much of the research that is done at UC Berkeley is basic scientific research, the field of genomics is heavily studied on campus.
Ever since a monk called Mendel started breeding pea plants we’ve been learning about our genomes. In 1953, Watson, Crick and Franklin described the structure of the molecule that makes up our genomes: the DNA double helix. Then, in 2001, scientists wrote down the entire 3-billion letter code contained in the average human genome.
The Secret of Our Lives: The Human Genome Project –
http://y2u.be/nhoEvAY0ToM
Issues of genetics and DNA are constantly cropping up in the news from food production and health, to legal cases and ethics. We hear about DNA in movies like Jurassic Park and X-men, we learn bits and pieces about it from TV shows like Dexter and and CSI, but what exactly is DNA, and how does it work?
