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James Watson, DNA-discoverer, has
his genome mapped
June 10, 2007: Nobel-winner James
Watson, who helped unlock the molecular structure
of DNA, has become the first person to receive his
own personal genome map.
The map, a breakdown of his DNA that shows
illnesses he is predisposed to contracting, is the
first step in making the sequencing of individual
human genomes quick, affordable, and a routine
part of medical care.
Watson’s genome map showed he has some variances
that could induce cancer — which appeared to
mirror his actual health. Watson said that he has
had skin cancer and that his sister had breast
cancer.
"I knew I was risking possible anxiety when I saw
it," said 79-year-old James Watson, who was
presented the map during a ceremony at Baylor
College of Medicine. "But it's much more that if I
don't sleep at night it's due to thinking about
Iraq rather than about my genome."
The $1 million, two-month project was a
collaboration between 454 Life Sciences Corp., a
Connecticut company that specializes in DNA
sequencing, and Baylor College of Medicine's Human
Genome Sequencing Center. At the moment, there are
no plans to complete more maps in the immediate
future, though researchers want to eventually map
more people.
Jonathan Rothberg, founder and former chairman of
454 Life Sciences, said the price of mapping
someone's genome sequence could eventually drop to
$1,000, making it easy for people to incorporate
it into their medical care.
That potential price tag is in sharp contrast to
the cost of the Human Genome Project, the
international, publicly financed effort to first
identify all the approximately 20,000-25,000 genes
in human DNA. That project, seen as one of
history's great scientific milestones, cost $3
billion and was completed in 2003, after 13 years.
Watson, who shared a Nobel Prize for his role in
discovering the structure of DNA in 1953 and
launched the Human Genome Project in 1990, said
thousands more of individual human genomes need to
be mapped out before researchers can make better
sense of the information they can provide.
Amy McGuire, an assistant professor of medicine
with Baylor's Center for Medical Ethics and Health
Policy, said integrating human genomes into
medical diagnoses raises various ethical
questions. Those include what to do when they
reveal personal information about a patient's
relatives and whether someone's genetic code could
result in discrimination from insurance companies
or employers.
"I think we'll have a healthier and more
compassionate world 50 years from now because of
the technological advances we are celebrating
today," Watson said.
While Watson said that he would review the map
further, there was at least one part he would
avoid. He planned to skip the section of the map
that would tell him if he was at risk for
Alzheimer's disease, which his grandmother died
from.
That, he said, he didn't want to know. Watson was
chosen for the project because of his
contributions to the field.
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