VaporTrail Posted April 24, 2013 Report Share Posted April 24, 2013 The discussion about gun control and mental health got me thinking about genetic medicine, that is genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and interactomics (yes the last one is a real thing). With genomics becoming cheaper every month and CPU processing power still growing according to Moore's law (and if we figure out quantum computing, who knows how fast the limit will be), it won't be long before sequencing your genome is a medical norm. As it is, only a few hundred people (if that) have had their genomes sequenced, but as more and more people get sequenced, researchers will likely begin to identify never before seen genes and motifs that correlate with the presence of certain diseases. Once these genes of interest are identified, that gives scientists access to a brand new arsenal of therapeutic techniques. This untapped potential is why the human genome pioneers won a Nobel prize a decade ago. The scientist side of me is screaming for everyone to start getting sequenced to see what we can learn, however, this sequencing information comes with a slew of legal issues. For the information to be meaningful, we'll need a large sample size, and the genomes of these subjects, along with their medical history, must be made available to researchers. At this point, it's easy to see why many people will have a problem with this, as this information needs to stay the hell away from insurance companies since you may be able to identify risks that an individual may be predisposed to. For me, this is the biggest reason that I want a socialized health care system, financial feasibility aside. It might be the case that genomic databases only get recorded in countries with a national healthcare system, which unfortunately limits the data that could be collected. I'm just curious of everyone's thoughts on this subject. What do you think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gftChris Posted April 24, 2013 Report Share Posted April 24, 2013 Absolutely, genome sequencing is something I'm very much looking forward to! It's just such a cool thing to have, to start with, but beyond that, as you say, the medical benefits could be enormous. Imagine if we manage to find that 98% of cancer sufferers have some defect in a gene (for example)? Medicine specifically targeting the 'correction' of that gene, if possible, would essentially be a vaccine against cancer. The same goes for other things like AIDS, ALS, and thousands of other presently incurable diseases. Except lupus, it's never lupus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legacy Fan Posted April 24, 2013 Report Share Posted April 24, 2013 Roughly 5 % of our genome encodes for "genes." The rest we aren't really sure what it does. And of that 5% this is what we're looking at: I think we're a loooong way off from recognizing "behavioral" genomics and even further from understanding it. Would definitely be cool though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Westside Steve Posted April 24, 2013 Report Share Posted April 24, 2013 to be honest, legacy, I don't know how cool it would end up being. we need to take into account Murphys law, the law of unexpected consequences and the Rod Serling affect. WSS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DieHardBrownsFan Posted April 24, 2013 Report Share Posted April 24, 2013 Some things are better off left alone. This is one of them. When man starts fucking around with things, he always fucks them up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gftChris Posted April 24, 2013 Report Share Posted April 24, 2013 Some things are better off left alone. This is one of them. When man starts fucking around with things, he always fucks them up. For reference, check hollywood? Not sure what things like this we've fucked up in the past, this is extremely ground breaking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaporTrail Posted April 24, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 24, 2013 Some things are better off left alone. This is one of them. When man starts fucking around with things, he always fucks them up. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ln8-Y-fIbqM We're not really "fucking around with things," in genomics. -omics is just the collection of genetic data and the analysis of such. And really, if that's your opinion, how do you feel about vaccines and not having to worry about measles or polio? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MLD Woody Posted April 24, 2013 Report Share Posted April 24, 2013 Some things are better off left alone. This is one of them. When man starts fucking around with things, he always fucks them up. I wonder how many times that has been said in human history. Only to have us end up better off Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DieHardBrownsFan Posted April 24, 2013 Report Share Posted April 24, 2013 I wonder how many times that has been said in human history. Only to have us end up better off Like the Atom genius? Boy, that sure did a lot of good huh. We can kill and destroy things well. And pollute the planet with nuclear plant mishaps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaporTrail Posted April 24, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 24, 2013 Like the Atom genius? Boy, that sure did a lot of good huh. Powering a huge percentage of the grid for decades? Nuclear medicine? Isotopic dating? The potential of fusion? Yeah, terrible. Obviously we still don't know what to do with the radioactive waste, but to say in jest that it "did a lot of good huh," is quite ignorant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DieHardBrownsFan Posted April 24, 2013 Report Share Posted April 24, 2013 Problem with man is they will always find something bad to do with their findings. I agree that nuclear medicine is good. Nuclear Bombs, bad. I imagine somewhere in the world there is already a human being cloned in some top secret lab. I don't expect a future scientist or whatever you become would agree, but many don't agree. This is the liberal diehard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heckofajobbrownie Posted April 24, 2013 Report Share Posted April 24, 2013 Don't know much about this. It's interesting stuff though. And inevitable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MLD Woody Posted April 24, 2013 Report Share Posted April 24, 2013 Problem with man is they will always find something bad to do with their findings. I agree that nuclear medicine is good. Nuclear Bombs, bad. I imagine somewhere in the world there is already a human being cloned in some top secret lab. I don't expect a future scientist or whatever you become would agree, but many don't agree. This is the liberal diehard. Right and fire I mean, Fire good, make warm. Fire bad, make pain! What do with fire? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DieHardBrownsFan Posted April 24, 2013 Report Share Posted April 24, 2013 Right and fire I mean, Fire good, make warm. Fire bad, make pain! What do with fire? I don't make fun of the mentally disabled. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Cysko Kid Posted April 25, 2013 Report Share Posted April 25, 2013 Right and fire I mean, Fire good, make warm. Fire bad, make pain! What do with fire? This was honestly pretty funny. I laughed and that is an absolute rarity on this board. Spot on, woody. I got it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairHooker11 Posted April 25, 2013 Report Share Posted April 25, 2013 Right and fire I mean, Fire good, make warm. Fire bad, make pain! What do with fire? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Cysko Kid Posted April 25, 2013 Report Share Posted April 25, 2013 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MLD Woody Posted April 25, 2013 Report Share Posted April 25, 2013 This was honestly pretty funny. I laughed and that is an absolute rarity on this board. Spot on, woody. I got it. No one ever gets/finds my jokes funny lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Westside Steve Posted April 25, 2013 Report Share Posted April 25, 2013 No one ever gets/finds my jokes funny lol for the record I liked it too! WSS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MLD Woody Posted April 25, 2013 Report Share Posted April 25, 2013 for the record I liked it too! WSS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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