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Photo: Robert Moyzis, University of California, Irvine, CA; U.S. Department of Energy Human Genome Program
The entire human genome has been sequenced, opening up new horizons in biology and medicine
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Louis Pasteur's experiments transformed the practice of medicine with the germ theory of disease
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Bits & pieces |
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Biology has been essential to the birth of environmental awareness. It's hard to imagine governments and corporations moving towards more environmentally friendly policies without the science of ecology to demonstrate why it's so important
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Completed in 2003, the Human Genome Project has sequenced all 30 000 genes in the human genome. The challenge now is to discover what all those genes do, and identify the variant alleles and the traits they code for
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Proteomics, or the study of the body's complement of proteins and how they are expressed, is a fast-growing field. If sequencing the human genome was a big job, consider this - humans are estimated to produce about 100 000 different proteins, and different tissues express different proteins at different times and under different conditions. Protein researchers won't be out of a job any time soon! |
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What has biology ever done for me? |
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Wanna know what biology has done for you? No biology = no vaccines or antibiotics to save you from infectious disease; and also no antiseptic practices in hospitals - even during surgery! You'd live in a world where no-one knows or cares about the environment, and without a theory of evolution to explain the fantastic diversity of life on earth.
Only 150 years ago people were clueless about the fact that infectious diseases are caused by germs. Doctors in Europe thought gangrene was caused by injured tissues being exposed to oxygen, and killer diseases like cholera and malaria were supposed to be caused by smelly air. Doctors and nurses didn't wash their hands between patients, or sterilise instruments before surgery. Up to half of surgery patients died of infection after otherwise successful operations!
Before the 1850s, hospitals were pretty bad news - until biology transformed the practice of medicine with the germ theory of disease.
French microbiologist Louis Pasteur's experiments proved that bacterial growth could be avoided in sterile nutrient broths by preventing external contamination. English medico Joseph Lister applied Pasteur's discovery to the prevention of wound infection in people, introducing antiseptic practices like sterilising wounds, dressings and surgical instruments with phenol (used in solution as an antiseptic). His innovations in surgery and patient care slashed levels of infection and gangrene in hospitals, saving countless lives and revolutionising medicine.
"Antiseptic techniques and antibiotics have been two of the most important discoveries of modern medicine," said Professor Phil Kuchel, Secretary for Science Policy for the Australian Academy of Science.
Biology has reshaped the world intellectually, defining our understanding of where we come from and our place on this planet. Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection caused a storm of controversy when it was first published in 1859, challenging prevailing scientific and religious beliefs about the origins of species and establishing a new paradigm for understanding life on earth.
"Darwin created an intellectual revolution when he published On the Origin of Species," said Professor Kuchel. "It turned so many old ideas on their heads. And unlike many of the important discoveries in physics and chemistry, it could easily be expressed in words ordinary people could understand."
In the new millennium, Darwin's ideas have gone molecular - the entire human genome has been sequenced, opening up new horizons in biology and medicine. The potential benefit to health is enormous - inherited gene mutations are directly responsible for an estimated 5 000 hereditary diseases in humans, and are involved in many other illnesses including cancer and heart disease.
The human genome isn't the only important genome that's been mapped. Mapping the malaria parasites' genome has revealed thousands of potential new targets for vaccines.
Rice has also had its genome sequenced. No big deal? No way - the rice genome will help agricultural scientists develop hardier, less environmentally damaging and more productive varieties of the crop that feeds over two billion people.
Asked what he thought biology's next big contribution might be, Professor Kuchel replied:
"It's impossible to say for sure, because important discoveries often come from unexpected places. However, I think progress in genetics and molecular biology will contribute to some revolutionary advances in the field of neuroscience. I also think we'll see rapid progress in the understanding and treatment of diseases involving protein turnover, such as Alzheimer's disease."
So if someone ever asks you, "what's biology done for me?", you'll know what to tell them. "Mate, the last 150 years of biology saved your life, and the next 150 will blow your mind."
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