Abstract
The suffix -omics is frequently used to describe something big. It is known to refer to a field of study in life sciences that focuses on large-scale data/information to understand life summed up in ‘ome’ and ‘omics’. The commonly known examples in this regard could be genome, proteome or metabolome and proteomics, and few other such fields related to life sciences. The word genomics was first coined by Dr. Thomas H. Roderick, a geneticist at the Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, ME, in 1986. Actually, he had suggested this name for a yet-to-be-published journal then [1] and even today the same journal by the name Genomics is in print (published by Elsevier)
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Notes
- 1.
Designed to define the complete repertoire of glycans that a cell or tissue produces under specified conditions of time, location and environment.
- 2.
https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/node/333101, accessed on 12 March 2018. It may be noted that Trump administration has reduced the health sector budget, and this may impact some such new health initiatives.
- 3.
Improved technology has made it possible to test for mutations within multiple genes simultaneously. Techniques like multiple and single gene are offering good results.
- 4.
Chromosomal microarray is used for genetic testing of individuals with unexplained developmental delay/intellectual disability disorders and anomalies.
- 5.
Exome sequencing, also known as whole exome sequencing (WES): the whole genome sequencing is about sequencing the complete DNA of an organism. In the case of a human, this corresponds to about three billion base pairs of DNA. But, only a small percentage (1.5–1.7%) of these pairs actually translates into proteins, the functional players in the body. The exome makes only small quantity of the whole human genome; however, ALL protein coding genes are found in the exome. Since the majority of disease-causing mutations occur in the exome, such testing saves cost and money by avoiding the whole exome sequencing.
- 6.
The discussion in regards to the use of genomics for the military is based on De Castro et al. [7].
- 7.
DNA is a long organic molecule, mainly made from four base chemicals: A+T and C+G. Understating various technical nuances of this subject is bit difficult, owing to various complexities, but at the same time, it is very interesting to know how scientists have managed to conceptualise the ideas by using very common themes related to linguistic analogies. Please refer El-Showk [9].
- 8.
The above discussion on biowarfare has drawn mainly (at places almost verbatim) from Mackenzie Foley, ‘Genetically Engineered Bioweapons: A New Breed of Weapons for Modern Warfare’, Applied Sciences, Winter 2013/10 March 2013 and Michael J. Ainscough, ‘The Technology of Genetic Engineering Applied to Biowarfare and Bioterrorism’, The Counter proliferation Papers, Future Warfare Series No. 14, Air war Collage, Alabama, p. 17 (During 1997, the JASON group which was advising the US government had identified the potential genetically engineered pathogens and weapons as future threats). There are limited sources available on this subject, and mainly above two articles have been referred by various other authors also as their main sources.
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Lele, A. (2019). Next-Generation Genomics. In: Disruptive Technologies for the Militaries and Security. Smart Innovation, Systems and Technologies, vol 132. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3384-2_7
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