Genomics Research Trends to Watch

Genomics, the study of genome (the complete set of genetic material of an organism that is required for it to function), has been drawing increasing attention because it is being applied, together with other advanced technologies such as Big Data, to precision (personalized) medicine, which allows tailored diagnosis and treatment in accordance with a patient’s own genome and specific environmental factors to provide optimal care for many diseases.

With the advances in the field of genomics, the cost of genome sequencing (figuring out the order of DNA nucleotides in a genome) has dropped dramatically since 2003, when it took more than a decade and costed around $2.7 billion to get the first sequencing of the whole human genome. Data collected from genome-sequencing groups funded by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) of the National Institutes of Health of the U.S showed that the cost to generate a high-quality ‘draft’ whole human genome sequence in mid-2015 was cut to just above $4,000. Then, the cost fell further to below $1,500 by late in 2015. Illumina, the U.S.-based company offering sequencing and array-based solutions for genetic analysis, sees that cost to be lowered to $100 “one day.”

Human genome sequencing is just the first step to understand how the instructions coded in DNA dictate the functioning of a human being. Follow-on research on genomic research includes:

• Determining the function of genes and the elements that regulate genes throughout the genome;
• Finding out variations in the DNA sequence among people because these differences may help predict a person’s risk of particular diseases and response to certain medications;
• Exploring how DNA and proteins interact with each another as well as the environment to create complex living systems, and
• Discovering the 3-dimensional structures of proteins and identifying their functions.

Genome or gene editing is another area of strong interest. It refers to a group of technologies enabling scientists to add, remove or change the genetic materials at particular locations of an organism’s genome. CRISPR-Cas9 is a recent approach with which genome editing is performed. It is faster, cheaper, more accurate, and more efficient than other available methods.