Knowing our genome ...
the technology to
1st of July 2008, 19.30
Invited Speaker: Xavier Estivill
The 3rd Científic Café organized by the
“Science meets Society” (SmS) group from the
Parc de Recerca Biomèdica de Barcelona
(PRBB), entitled “Knowing our genome”, took
place in the bar of the Centre de Cultura
Contemporània de Barcelona (CCCB) on the
1st of July.
The Café, organized this time by Vincent
Lacroix and Roser Zaurin, started with the
question: “Would you allow your genome to be
sequenced?”
Among the approximately 60 persons
attending the Café, 6 would have done it, but
analyze the
presence/absence of concrete genes, or
mutations within a gene that had been
previously identified as responsible for a
particular illness.
However, they cannot predict each and every
disease, since for the majority of.them it is still
unknown whether they have a genetic basis,
not without first asking: “ ... but ... for what and what the genes involved may be.
purpose ...? ” Nevertheless, sequencing our genome will
Before entering into the discussion, Roser and allow us to know whether we have a strong
Vincent introduced what a gene and the probability of developing a disease and
genome are, and presented the invited therefore we might undertake preventative
speaker Xavier Estivill (CRG researcher). therapies even before its symptoms appear.
Xavier briefly described, using appropriately The public was also interested in knowing
simple language, the kind of research he is whether the tendency to develop cancer can
doing in the CRG. He explained that his group also be predicted from our genome sequence.
is interested in the study of the genetic basis of Here, Xavier clarified that having a gene that
many illnesses such as Multiple Sclerosis encodes for cancer does not mean that we are
(MS), Parkinson´s disease and psychiatric doomed to develop it and that frequently, our
Disorders. way of life (the so called epigenetic factors) will
The first question the public asked was also strongly influence the probability of
whether DNA sequencing companies were developing cancer.
reliable and whether public ones were more Xavier emphasized that good nutrition,
trustworthy than private ones. performing regular exercise and reducing
Xavier explained that enterprises such as stress will probably help prevent the
deCODEme or IngentaConnect currently have development of any illness more effectively
than any genetic therapy or regenerative
medicine. Currently there is a project running
which aims to compare the genome of 25000
tumor tissues with the healthy tissue from the
correspondent individuals. The final goal of the
study is to identify which genes are modified in
a tumor.
To the question of how many genes we have,
our invited speaker answered that the first
genomes sequenced led scientists to suggest
that humans should have around 100.000
genes. Nowadays it is thought that we have
around 20.000 genes. However, the exact address the sequence and structural variations
number is still unknown. encompassed in the human genome.
An additional topic that concerned participants Finally, to the question of who looks after the
from the Café was security. Who is allowed to correct use of this scientific technology, Xavier
access the genome database? Is its use Estivill responded that any research project
regulated by law? What is the position of the must be approved by an ethics committee.
scientific community?
Xavier explained that all genomes sequenced With this question we finished the 3rd Scientific
in scientific studies had been sequenced in an Café, happy with its success and looking
anonymous way. He added that probably forward to starting again after the summer
within 5-10 years we will be systematically break!
sequencing our genomes and that in the USA
they already have approved a law -an initiative
started by scientists- that prohibits any
discrimination at work or by insurance
enterprises based on the genome. In Europe
however, the law is quite out of date and it
should be revised.
We also learned that, in contrast to what was
first thought, there is variability among the
genomes of different individuals and among
different populations. This variability allows the
study of populations and migration patterns
over the years.
Just now the genome of about one thousand
persons is being resequenced to directly