Word: various
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...disease genes, burgeoning U.S. genetic centers now offer DNA tests for 30 or 40 of the more commonly inherited disorders, including cystic fibrosis, susceptibility to some types of breast cancer, fragile X syndrome (after Down, the most common cause of mental retardation), Huntington's disease, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, and various types of degeneration of the brainstem, spinal cord and peripheral nerves. If you include testable variants of some diseases, such as the many different genetic mutations that can cause cystic fibrosis, the number of available DNA probes rises to some 400, with the count growing almost daily. What's more...
...already talking about using "FISH [for fluorescent in-situ hybridization] and chips," as they whimsically call these new tools, to look for any number of genetic characteristics, including the more elusive web of genes that may lurk behind familial patterns of heart disease and stroke, cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer's, various kinds of mental disorders and even gingivitis. Says Dr. Wayne Grody, head of the DNA diagnostic lab at the UCLA Medical Center: "We'll soon be governed by a new paradigm--genomic medicine--with tests and ultimately treatment for every disease linked to the human genome...
Geneticists estimate that there are 2,000 to 5,000 genes that either cause, or predispose humans to, various diseases. In practical terms, that means there will be many, many more potential avenues of research than the entire pharmaceutical industry could possibly hope to investigate over the next 20 years. Each company has a different strategy for exploiting that bonanza, and most are more than happy to tell you what's wrong with the other guy's approach. But they all agree on a few key points...
Once the strands are complete, the gene chip is ready for use. You take a sample of blood from a patient who has just developed a raging HIV infection. Various genes in his immune system are churning out millions of RNA molecules that will assemble the proteins needed to combat the infection. You extract the RNA and break it into pieces, tag each piece with a fluorescent chemical and pour the whole mess over the gene chip. The RNA tightly binds only to its exact DNA complement on the chip. The fluorescent tag tells you where on the chip...
...know that eating fruits and vegetables is good for us, but within the next decade we could be eating broccoli not just to make Mom happy but also as a way to deliver drugs that stave off infectious diseases or that treat various chronic conditions. "The idea of vaccinating people with edible plants is very new," says Dwayne Kirk of the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research in Ithaca, N.Y. "But it's a lot friendlier than injections...