Essay On 20 Years Of Advancement In Healthcare Science

The Human Genome Project is a worldwide research effort with the goal of analyzing the structure of human DNA and determining the location of the estimated 100,000 human genes. In parallel with this effort, the DNA of a set of model organisms will be studied to provide the comparative information necessary for understanding the

Over the last 10 years scientists have been involved in the progression and completion of the Human Genome Project. "Scientists working on this project have developed detailed maps that identify the

The HGP was a 13-year long project started in 1990 with the objective of determining the entire human euchromatic genome sequence. It was a public funded project and the goal was to complete the project within 15 years. Since its inception, the project had been met with scepticism from scientists and commoners alike. One significant doubt was whether the astounding expenditure of the project would outweigh the potential benefits from it. However, the incredible success of the HGP became apparent very soon after completion. Not only did it mark the beginning of a new era in medicine, it also made significant development in the various techniques that can be used for DNA sequencing. This publicly funded, $3 billion project began formally in 1990, under the co-ordinated effort of the United States Department of Energy (DOE) and National Institutes of Health (NIH). Although destined to be completed in 15 years, rapid technological development accelerated the completion date to 2003.

Many doctors, physicians, researchers and biotech companies--including the revolutionary Seattle Genetics research facility--are now turning to antibody-assisted cancer treatments and precisely targeted cures instead of treating cancer with a cocktail of chemicals and radiation that generate risky side effects and damage the healthy tissue that patients need to recover. Cancers are among the most frightening and difficult-to-treat illnesses. Ranked as the leading cause of death and disability, cancer is actually an umbrella term that covers many different diseases. Each person faces a unique disease because cancers interact with the body's existing cells, so each case has a

Our incessant curiosity for knowledge and answers has prompted the intricate research institutions we know today. Among the volumes of research, scientists have searched for innovations to better understand the human body and edge closer to more individualized medicine. In 1990, breakthroughs in genetic technology allowed for researchers to begin a quest to map and understand all the genes of human beings. A mere 13 years later and just shy of $3 billion invested the Human Genome Project successfully mapped the billions of base pairs involved. With the ability to diagnose specific abnormalities, researchers and medical professionals have saved hundreds of ill children to which their survival was indefinite. However, with scientists continuing

The Goal of the Human Genome Project is to obtain genetic mapping information and to determine the complete sequence of all human DNA by the year of 2005. The project started in 1990 and 180 million dollars are being spent on it annually. This adds up to a total of over 2 billion dollars for the 15 year budget. Of this 2 billion dollars budgeted, 5% is spent annually on the ethical, legal and social issues. This report focused on some of these issues.

Cancer is a disease caused by an uncontrolled division of abnormal cells. The DNA sequence in cells can be changed as a result of copying errors during replication. If these changes whatever their cause are left uncorrected, both growing and non-growing somatic cells might gain many mutations that they could no longer function. The relevance of DNA damage and repair to the generation of cancer was obvious when it was recognized that everything that causes cancer also cause a change in the DNA sequence. Tumor suppressor genes are protective genes and normally they limit cell growth by monitoring the speed of cell division, repair mismatched DNA and control when a cell dies. When a tumor suppressor gene is mutated cells grow

There are two key ways in which cancerous tumors form. Within the human genome, the two primary gene classes which control cell growth are proto-oncogenes which encourage cell growth, and tumor suppressers which inhibit it. Proto-oncogenes can lead to cancerous growths if mutations in the gene cause it to produce too much growth-stimulatory protein, or a hyper-active form of it. Tumor suppresser genes can also lead to cancerous cell reproduction when mutations make the gene incapable of putting the breaks on reproduction. Normal activity of a proto-oncogene can thus be cancerous if the tumor suppresor genes are rendered incapable of carrying out their function of regulation. With this classification, it is easy to see how one might use gene therapy and recombinant DNA techniques to introduce into the system a fully-functioning tumor suppresser gene. Presumably, if cells are reproducing at a normal rate and are merely incapable of being

The normal process of cell division is altered in cancerous cells typically by mutations in the genes involved in the regulation of cellular division. The number of mutations normally will begin to spread because when the genes that make DNA repairing proteins become mutated, this causes the DNA that they would be repairing to become mutated as well. Some changes allow the damaged cells to divide more quickly than normal and to invade other tissues. The cancers cells can divide even where there are signals and normal cells meant to prevent the cell growth.

Targeted drugs. These are drugs that interfere with chemicals that leukemia cells need in order to grow and multiply. They identify and attack specific cancer cells without harming normal cells.

In June 2000, the publicly funded Human Genome Project (HGP) and the private firm Celera Genomics Inc. announced that they had completed sequencing the human genome. This unprecedented accomplishment is expected to enable doctors to diagnose, treat and even prevent numerous genetic diseases. As these two entities worked on sequencing the human genome, there was also a separate and less publicized race to patent as many human genes as possible.

Under normal conditions, cells balance division and apoptosis, and these processes are accomplished and preserved by several biochemical “checkpoints” during the cell cycle2. When these checkpoints are affected, uncontrolled cellular proliferation and cancer can result. Two general classes of cancer genes are oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes. Oncogenes facilitate tumor formation by directly accelerating cell division, whereas tumor suppressor genes, when affected, allow uncontrolled growth that was normally suppressed2. Tumor suppressor gene loss usually affects a cell’s phenotype when both copies of the gene are lost, so null alleles can be present in a heterozygous state in cells without affecting cell and tissue phenotype. The loss of these genes can occur through genetic mutation or the epigenetic silencing of genes via promoter

The Human Genome Project (HGP), an international scientific research project, has educated the public tremendously on various topics concerning DNA and genetics. This study has been beneficial to communities alike. As stated, the HGP sought to identify all the genes in human DNA, determine the sequences of the three billion chemical base pairs that make up human DNA, store this information in databases, improve tools for data analysis, transfer related technologies to the private sector, and address the ethical, legal, and social issues that may arise from the project. In favor of achieving these goals, scientists studied the genetic makeup of several nonhuman organisms (Human Genome Management Information System, 2011).

This excitement can be good, bad or in some cases, misleading. The medical field has vastly made its way into a huge money pit of enduring “technological advances”. But, the advances are sometimes not always what they seem to be. Looking ahead, the questions we need to ask ourselves would be: are we getting to excited too quickly when it comes to the amount of anticipation we have about the advances in the medical field? Is there a chance we look for the potential of these “revenge effects” with it all? While trying to discover an answer to these questions, I feel as though people need to take a step back and realize that we will never know right now, what these advances will do for us in the near future whether its change us negatively or positively. Harmful or safe, watchfulness should always be done when it comes to medical technology. Thankfully, the knowledge and skills used with the equipment, has and will continue to save millions and millions of lives now and in the future. The diagnosis of new vaccines and miracle drugs has increased the existence of this population by about twenty years.

Exploration into the function of each gene discovered will continue well into the 21st century. The knowledge gained from this will lead us to better understand the cause of genetically related diseases. Having the ability to recognize the causation of a disease will shift technology from trial and error treatments to specific drugs designed to treat the gene sequence and protein structure. This is called gene therapy and is the most exciting aspect of the HGP. It gives the