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 Tuesday, September 24, 2002
24-hour genome dawns. Nature Sep 24 2002 9:16AM ET [Moreover - moreover...]
Let's see billions of nucleotides per second. Think about it. Do we have technology that can ACCURATELY work that fast? Because you had better have a high accuract rate if you are going to make decisions based on someone's DNA sequence. Even if you had 99.999% accuracy, this would result in 50,000 errors, just about the same number of genes present in a person's DNA. If you screen 200,000,000 people, you are going to have a huge number of errors that could be crippling to people and the decisions they will make. Plus, just think of the storage needs for all this (2e8 people x 5e9 base pairs per genome is about 1e18 bits of info. This is a million terabits or 1 exabit.) Today, you need to sequence the DNA 5-12 times in order to overcome any potential errors. I suppose you could do the same here, but the need to accuracy is a whole lot higher than was used in the Human Genome Project.I still think the genome will be much more complex than many assume it to be. Trying to tailor a drug to an individual's system may require a far greater understanding of the biology involved that we currently have. 10:42:51 PM 
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Need Biowarfare Agent? Hop Online. Anyone with Internet access can view the genome sequence of a bacteria that renders people feverish and disoriented -- and that was also built into bombs during the Cold War arms race. By Kristen Philipkoski. [Wired News]
Genome of potential bioterror agent seqenced. Scientists at The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR), in collaboration with colleagues at Virginia Tech, the National Animal Disease Center and the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, have determined the complete genomic sequence of Brucella suis, a bacterial pathogen and potential bioterrorism agent that could be targeted against humans or livestock. TIGR's analysis found "fundamental similarities" between the genome of Brucella [^] a pathogen that infects only animals -- and those of other microbes that cause diseases in plants. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases [EurekAlert - Biology]
The Wired article makes it seem somehow unethical to release the sequence. But you do not need the sequence to make Brucella bombs. If someone wanted to somehow mutate Brucella, they could do the science in secret. This is like Linux. Make it open and we can more rapidly adapt to something that nutcases create. If I remember correctly Brucella was the main reason you were supposed to cook lamb, pork etc. (non-bovine) really well and never eat rare lamb chops. 10:14:31 PM
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Humans and Their Closest Genetic Cousin, the Chimp, May Not Be So Close After All [GenomeWeb]
Study: Humans, Chimps More Different [AP Science]
Roy Britten and Eric Davidson were two of the most influential scientists I knew at CalTech 25 years ago. We got to work with Sea Urchins because of their work on development. The idea of master genes that regulated an organism's development was an eye-opener to me. I also learned about Cot curves and other (primitive) approaches to estimate DNA similarity. I love the idea that he used computer programs to analyze the differences. And this could be a huge difference, since it is likely that the real changes are in genes that affect morphology. I'll have to check out PNAS. 9:53:22 PM
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Someone sent me this link. Just think, you can make a bid for the Enron 'E' and just about everything else that was not nailed down. This is the first thing in the list. The last are some trinkets. No macs though. Probably why it went under ;-) 9:43:34 PM
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Why No Industrial Revolution in Ancient Greece?. One of the oldest and hardest puzzles in economic history is the failure of Ancient Greek Eastern Mediterranean civilization to make some kind of breakthrough--to more rapid development of labor-saving technology, to faster technological progress, and to an industrial revolution. There have always been three theories as to why this did not happen: The "insufficient density" theory--not enough thinkers, not enough tinkerers, not enough ability to shape metal finely and precisely for the set of those interested in scientific progress... [Semi-Daily Journal]
This sort of discussion reminds me of those Saturday Night Live routines that started 'What if Superman had fought for the Nazi's?' or 'What if Napoleon had a B-52 at Waterloo?' 9:10:49 PM
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Lots of fun stuff the last few days. Had a job fair yesterday. Met several interesting people. No one offered me a job :-( but I at least got some face-to-face time. I spent today networking at a WBBA function. It was an interesting experience. Most of the people there were in business attire (i.e. suits). I was dressed in standard scientist attire (i.e. black jeans, polo shirt, white socks). I may have been the only Ph.D who was not running a company and I was dressed the part. So I stuck out in a nice way. I got some coffee, stood to the side and had several people talking with me inside of 30 seconds. It stayed that wat for 40 minutes. I had a nice talk with some of the organizers about ways to get more scientists to show up. I even got to give my card out. Now I can get back to the fun stuff. 8:21:37 PM
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