The path-breaking developments in the field of recombinant DNA technology have enormous potential in improving healthcare and raising the quality of human life, simultaneously throwing up new challenges and responsibilities. Sequencing of the human genome and the consequent rapid advances have turned biology into a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it could be used to solve health problems of the human race, while on the other viruses generated in the laboratories had raised issues related to bio-terrorism. This was stated by Dr Seyed E Hasnain, Director, Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD), Hyderabad.

Delivering the keynote address at a national symposium organised by Aurora's Degree College on "DNA Research in 50 years - What next,"at Tagore Auditorium, Osmania University, Dr Hasnain said in the last two decades sequencing of human genome had resulted in a paradigm shift in biology. Recombinant DNA technologies have yielded several useful products for mankind, including the bacteria that produces human insulin, edible vaccines in the form of potato or tomato and golden rice containing beta-carotne.

The physical map of the human genome had directly assisted in identifying more than 100 diseases. Medicine in the post-genomics era had helped give a better understanding of the disease profile, Dr Hasnain said.

While sequencing of the human genome had enabled clinicians to analyse an individual's specific disease, genes to predict his susceptibility to specific diseases and his response to specific drugs, it had also raised ethical issues such as private information being made public.

The presence of only 30,000 to 32,000 genes in the human genome came as a shock to the human ego. Are we only two times more advanced than a fly? He said the polio virus was generated in the lab from chemical building blocks to create, for the first time, an infectious living molecule. This study raised important issues related to bio-terrorism
According to Dr Hasnain, the future of medicine would be defined by the discoveries of genome technology. Well defined medical application, better understanding of the problem from preventive to predictive medicine and a paradigm shift from generalised medicine to personalised medicine would mark the future of medicine.

In an interesting disclosure, Dr Hasnain said the problem of breast cancer was not confined to women alone. Even men were prone to suffer from the disease as oncogene (a gene) when mutilated at abnormally high levels can convert a normal cell into a cancer cell. He said studies had shown that even men could be affected by breast cancer although the percentage of men suffering from it was not yet known.

The challenge in DNA research now is to decipher the polygenome and multifactorial etology of common diseases such as cardio-vascular, neurology, allergic, anti-immunal and degenerative diseases, Dr Hasnain said.

Inaugurating the symposium, State Finance Minister Y Ramakrishnudu said the scientific development and technology played a pivotal role in the growth of the country's economy. Although the economic growth in the state was at a faster pace, it was still below the levels of expectation. Recognising the potential of biotechnology and to create world-class infrastructure to scientific growth, the state government was setting up biotech parks in Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam.

Prof. J Ananthaswamy, Vice-Chancellor of Osmania University, said the future was in understanding and concentrating more on DNA and RNA, their application and so on as these were the factors governing the life process.

Those who participated in the symposium included George Thottepally, Executive Director, Mahyco Research Foundation, J H Crouch, head of Applied Genomics Lab, N P Sharma, former principal scientist of DRR, Ramesh Souti, CCMB group leader and Sanjeev Khosla, CDFD scientist.