Their research, published in Nature Biotechnology, represents an interesting step forward in genetic engineering.
FORBES: Cyborg Yeast Have Their Genes Controlled By Computer
Well, now insect geneticists at Johns Hopkins University have come up with a modest step toward a genetic solution.
That will be the next step: using genetic tests and other methods of separating those patients who will be helped from those who will not.
Tying that knowledge to the exact genetic sequence will be a big step forward.
Meanwhile, Britain's health secretary announced Friday that his country's Health Protection Agency had sequenced the full genetic code of the H1N1 virus, the first step in producing a European prototype of a swine flu vaccine.
As a first step, the scientists examined half a million genetic markers in the participants' DNA. These markers, known as single nucleotide polymorphisms, or SNPs, can together reveal how genetically similar people are, even though they are not conventionally related.
Dr. LEE RYBECK LYND (Professor of Engineering, Adjunct Professor of Biology, Dartmouth College): In my lab, one of the big ideas we're working on, is to try to develop microorganisms using genetic engineering, that let us do, in one step, what we're now only able to do in more than one step.
The next step was to conduct a study in Japanese patients where genetic samples were taken from their tumors to look for EGFR mutations.
While a scientific breakthrough in its own right, it also brings the possibility of curing genetic diseases, growing new organs and even making a carbon copy of human beings one step closer.
Millennium's work is a big step toward so-called personalized medicine, in which treatment would be tailored toward individual patients based on genetic makeup.
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