Skills For Health Science Coursework 2016

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

Today’s society has an ever growing thirst for knowledge as we have for many hundreds of years now. Scientists work around the clock studying the affects of nearly everything they can think of to conduct experiments on. This quest for knowledge is the supposed start to a better life for man kind and ultimately a world without disease or hunger. The human genome project is one that has been going on for about 20 years. This project set out to map, down to the last detail, every part of the human DNA structure (“Human”). The project has recently been completed and the scientists are now starting another project with their newly found information, to cure mankind of its ailments.

Scientists anticipate that genetic information will be useful in the concept of personalized health care. While the sequencing of the human genome is the first step towards this, it does not guarantee success. Rather, it is important to develop a deeper

The International HapMap Project is a way to research and provide information about specific illnesses that would lead to new findings of preventing, diagnosing, and treating diseases. “The goal of the HapMap Project is to map and understand the patterns of common genetic diversity in the human genome in order to accelerate the search for the genetic cause of human disease” (Thorisson, 2005). They collect DNA and it contains long chains of four chemicals that are adenine, thymine, cytosine, and guanine. Within these chemicals they contain our physical traits, our likelihood of struggling from disease, and the response of our bodies to substances in the environment.

The successful mapping of the human genome is a huge step for science, but as every action has an equal and opposite reaction, every new scientific discovery brings with it equal amounts of benefit and detriment. With access to the human genome comes the ability to fight back against genes with life-altering capabilities. With this new power scientists have the ability to check the likelihood of someone to develop ailments such as cancer and heart disease. On the other hand, to be able to see these genes means to be able to distinguish desirable from undesirable, an action that can drastically affect the lives of others and maybe even the views of their societies.

International scientists recently made a watershed breakthrough in medical technology that promises to generate paradigm changes in medical treatments. More than a decade ago, scientists at the Human Genome Project finally mapped the genetic blueprint of Homo

Everything that you are made up of comes from the same set of unique sequences inside your body. All of your traits, characteristics, actions, and functions are controlled and created from a set of genetic instructions. These instructions are called a genome. The human genome contains endless amounts of information. Scientists have been working for years on ways to unlock the human genome and gain access to all the information it holds. These studies presents multiple benefits but also come with some controversy. Despite that, the human genome has been the focus of scientific interest for years, and for a understandable reasons.

The human genome project has its origins in the mid-1980s, but its intellectual roots stretch back further. Alfred Sturtevant an American geneticist created the first Drosophila gene map in 1911. In 1953, Francis Crick and James Watson discovered the double helical structure of the DNA molecule. This discovery was the first crucial step in molecular genome analysis, and in much of the molecular biological research of the last half-century. In the mid-1970s, Frederick Sanger developed techniques to sequence DNA and with this development the idea of analyzing the entire human genome was first proposed by a few academic biologists. The early genome project was established in 1987 and in 1988, Congress funded both the National Institute of Health and the Department of Energy to embark on further exploration of this concept. In 1990 the initial plans for the project were drawn up and made public through a joint research plan, “Understanding Our Genetic Inheritance: The Human Genome Project, The First Five Years, FY 1991-1995.” (NIH, 2012). This initial research plan set out specific goals for the first five years of what was to then predicted to be a 15-year research effort (NIH, 2012). In 2001, the Human Genome Project published its results showing a 90 percent complete sequence of all three billion base pairs in the human genome (NIH, 2012).

The human genome project is an international effort that serves as a possible solution to the many diseases that affect billions of people worldwide. This project is a great milestone in the field of genetics as it allows scientists to determine the sequence of genes in chromosomes which will show where disease causing mutations are occurring and what can be done to reverse it. Looking back in time, many of the diseases which could be cured were done by administering drugs and certain types of therapies. As the complexity of technology as well as advancements in the understanding of our bodies increased, more diseases became curable through these very drugs and therapies. However, many times individuals find it hard to deal with the side effects that these solutions create. The human genome project aims to make disease and illnesses curable more efficiently and to become readily available to individuals throughout the world. It is therefore necessary the that society begins to accept this project as the new frontier in medical treatment and prevention of diseases. By having a greater investment and understanding in the Human genome Project, the scientific community will determine more information about DNA to develop treatment plans, prevention methods, and develop cures to diseases that affect humans; thus yielding medically important information for society.

“Genetic engineering is, at best, a debatable branch of science. For some, it is the wave of the future: a method for perfecting the human genome, discarding flaws from infants before they are born and ensuring they live longer, healthier lives. For others, it is an abomination: a method of circumventing what nature gave you, and wholly unnatural. Which one is right?” (Bird). Naturally, genetics is the scientific study of inherited variations in the DNA strand. This topic sparked curiosity among numerous scientific individuals that they begun a research project on it titled the Human Genome Project. To illustrate, the Human Genome Project worked out the sequence of the three billion chemical ‘letters’ of the human genome, and it produced

I passionately believe that our society depends upon medical advances in order to progress and continue to improve people’s lives. This is achieved by understanding diseases - a disorder of the structure or function that produces specific symptoms or that affects a specified location (McGraw-Hill, 2002) - the effects that they have and the interrelatedness of systems in the human body. Some diseases are genetic – the defective alleles have been inherited from one parent or both. Other diseases that require gene therapy are not inherited and can be caused by a mutation that changes the base sequence in the genetic code. (Mike Boyle, 2008)

In this chapter we will explore the topic of genes. Genes help to determine who we are and take part in molding how our children will turn out to be. Many aspects will be investigated to gain insight into the world of genetics. Genes and the way they are transmitted will be explored. Hereditary gene mutations and its impact on a person’s health are analyzed. Experts opinions on what they believe will be the future of genetics in the healthcare industry and the ethical implications that can arise will be addressed. This paper will explain the way people can use the knowledge of genes and gene mutations to improve their health and the health of their families.

The Human Genome Project has been introduced to us more than twenty-five years from now. It was Initiated and sponsored by the National Human Genome Research Institute, the project was introduced aiming at researching more human genes in order to understand, read genes and find cure for diseases. It guided the medical field to new direction but at the same time created new challenges and problems. The primary objective of the project isn’t wrong or questionable but some believe its implications are. Genes are made of a molecule called DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) which contains the instructions for making every protein in the body. By studying and understanding the genome system completely, we will be able to shed some light on how to

Scientists also study gene function. This is more complicated than finding gene location due to the fact that genes influence each other through epistasis and polygenic inheritance. Scientist can use genes with known functions to make educated guesses about the function of unknown genes based on similar structures within the gene. Mutations, and the effects they have, also helps scientists to understand gene function. By locating which gene has been mutated and observing the result of that mutation, scientists can determine that gene’s function. The Human Genome Project (HGP) was founded in order to sequence and identify the entire human genome, and to develop databases of genetic and physical maps of different sequences. It later expanded to include other countries and became known as the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium. Their efforts correlated with the research done by a biotechnology company called Celera Genomics, Inc. Based on both of their results, the human genome contains approximately 35,709 different genes (Richards and Hawley, 299, 303). Interestingly enough, the results showed that every

Many years ago, maybe about 50 or so, there was little education about the genetic factors that is responsible for human disease. We were basically without knowledge of what caused different types of cancer and what cured them and many other diseases. There was also little understanding of how to determine the sequence of the 3 billion chemical letters for deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) until 1990. The National Institutes of Health and the Department of Health got together with universal partners to begin to sequence all 3 billion base pairs in the human genome and this is now known as the Human Genome Project. This was designed to basically provide researchers with great understanding and information about the genetic factors in human diseases. It also provided them with different diagnosis, treatments, and prevention and provided better tools to help researchers find genes much faster.