The Other Information Technology

By Bob Gariano

Much has been made of the development of digital information technology over the last two decades. Cell phones, internet connectivity, massive centralized data bases, and satellite communications have all changed our world. During the same twenty years another information technology has rapidly emerged. It is, if anything, even more complex and revolutionary. It is molecular rather than electronic and its invention was natural not man-made. The emergence of genetic engineering and research has revealed a natural system that sometimes makes our own digital management of information look somewhat primitive.

In the mid 1990s Craig Venter and his team of researchers at the Institute for Genomic Research completed the first entire genomic sequencing of a free living organism, the rather mundane microbe known as H. influenzae. This microscopic rod shaped single cell bacterium was mistakenly considered to be the cause of human influenza until 1933. A member of Venter’s research team had been studying the genetics of the organism and it became a natural subject for their enquiry.

In spite of its tiny scale, each H. influenzae was found to have a genome that consisted of almost 2 million base pairs of DNA in a single circular chromosome. This chromosome contained 1740 protein coding genes, 58 transfer RNA genes, and 18 other RNA genes. This genome is a complex and comprehensive chemically encoded data base of information that allows the bacteria to pass on its characteristics to succeeding generations while adapting to new influences in the environment. Venter’s team used a sequencing protocol known as whole genome shotgun and the results of their work were published in Science in 1995.

The 1990s brought other historic progress in genetic research, these discoveries occurred in diverse fields. Early in the decade, the human genome project was initiated to map the entire human genetic code. In 1993 genetically engineered crops were first introduced as commercial products for agricultural application. Later in the decade, DNA began to have wide spread use as a tool for criminal investigations. In 1997, the media reported that the first mammal, Dolly the sheep, had been cloned two years earlier from a single adult somatic cell at the Roslin Institute in the United Kingdom. It raised a firestorm of conjecture and debate.

During the late 1990s, medical researchers at Northwestern University were planning a major genetic research center here in Chicago. The Center for Genetic Medicine was founded in 2000 and it has emerged as a global leader in the field. The Center is a collaboration among Northwestern University, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, and the Lurie Children’s Hospital. The center includes more than 140 faculty members from 19 university and hospital departments across these institutions.

Northwestern’s Center for Genetic Medicine is known throughout the world for innovative and practical research into the fundamental genetic mechanisms of human disease. For instance, one initiative, the NUgene Project, has established a collection of genetic and medical records from 20,000 volunteers to provide researchers with a bank of information about diseases and their genetic causes. Another resource, the Transgenic and Targeted Mutagenesis Laboratory (TTML) offers services to study the cryo-preservation  and recovery of mouse embryos.

The Center for Genetic Medicine is also committed to improving public understanding of these new technologies. The Silverstein Lecture Series, made possible by grants from the Herman M. and Bea L. Silverstein Medical Research Fund for Genetic Medicine, twice a year brings experts from around the world to speak here on the North Shore. This year, Marc Williams, the director of the Geisinger Health System Genomic Medicine Institute, will be at the Northwestern Evanston campus to discuss personal genome sequencing and how it can change the future of healthcare. Dr. Williams will speak at 6:00 pm on January 16, 2013 in the McCormick Tribune Center. The talk is open to the public and is offered without admission charge. Reservations can be made and more information is available by visiting the Center’s website at www.cgm.northwsetern.edu .