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- Prescribed to people who are at a high risk for blood clots.
- Also known as Coumadin.
- Although 2 million Americans take the the blood-thinning drug everyday, it varies between people even when they take the same dosage.

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This is a video on how to read the genome and build a human being.

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Riccardo Sabatini: How to read the genome and build a human being

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Secrets, disease and beauty are all written in the human genome, the complete set of genetic instructions needed to build a human being. Now, as scientist and entrepreneur Riccardo Sabatini shows us, we have the power to read this complex code, predicting things like height, eye color, age and even facial structure -- all from a vial of blood.

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- Cancer is treated with Chemotherapy and it cures 80% of the children who have been diagnosed with Lymphoblastic Leukemia.
-  Molecules like sirtuins are involved in cellular metabolism and protect cells  against the harmful effect of stress - extend lifespan!

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Genetics And You: Eat Less, Live Longer?

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Genetics And You: Eat Less, Live Longer?

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- In 1930s, researchers followed up by observation showing that rats in a diet containing 20% indigestive fiber - calories that CAN NOT be used - lived much longer than normally fed peers.
- Proteins known as sirtuins will be able to stall aging.

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- Disease
- Genome
- Pharmacogenetics
- Biofilms
- Genetics

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For the first time, researchers have found evidence suggesting people may live longer by eating fewer calories each day, a dietary restriction that already has shown in experiments to extend the lives of laboratory animals by up to 40 percent.

Even if the evidence proves to be correct, it's unknown how much extra time people might live.

Laboratory studies for decades have shown that reducing the calories fed to lab mice and rats enabled the animals to live much longer, but the same effect has not been positively demonstrated in monkeys or in humans.

Now, George S. Roth and his colleagues at the National Institute on Aging say they have preliminary evidence that biological changes that help create super-aged rodents may also work in humans.

The biological markers - lower temperature, lower insulin levels and a steady level of a steroid hormone called DHEAS - all occur in restricted-diet rodents that live about 40 percent longer than fellow rodents on a normal diet, said Roth. The same biological markers have now been found in men who are living longest in a continuing study in Baltimore on aging.

"This means that the biological characteristics of animals that are on calorie-restricted diets seem to apply to longevity in people," Roth said.

But Roth, co-author of a study appearing Friday in the journal Science, said the results should be considered "preliminary" and he cautions that nobody should start starving in hopes of living longer. Instead, he said, the study gives only tantalizing hints that are worthy of further investigation about helping people to extend life.

Other experts said the study offers new hope about science some day finding ways to slow aging and extend life.

"The study doesn't absolutely prove anything, but it suggests that the same mechanisms that operate in calorie-restricted animals can operate in humans," said Stephen R. Spindler, a human lifespan researcher at the University of California, Riverside. "It increases the likelihood that we will find pharmaceuticals that will mimic this effect."

Roth and his co-authors drew their preliminary conclusions from the combination of studies on aging rodents, a 15-year-old study on aging monkeys, and the continuing project called the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging, which follows the lifespan of people.

The monkey study, conducted at the National Institute of Aging, is designed to test the longevity effects of calories restriction. It started in 1987, but Roth said that since Rhesus monkeys can live for 25 years, it may take another four or five years before the results are final. Statistically, at least half of the monkeys will have to complete their normal lifespan before the data is considered significant, said Roth.

The same is true of the Baltimore study on aging people.

But Roth said he and his team gathered preliminary conclusions by looking at early trends in the deaths of both the monkeys and the men. The researchers also divided men in the Baltimore study into two groups based on measurements of the key biomarkers - temperature, insulin and DHEAS levels - that were characteristic of the super-aged lab rodents.

Roth said the men whose biomarkers were similar to those of the calorie-restricted, long-lived rodents were dying at a much slower rate than were men with other biomarker measurements. Roth said none of the Baltimore study's men are known to be on restricted diets, but clearly some are enjoying the same lifespan benefit that calorie restriction gave the laboratory animals and researchers are not sure why.

"Whatever it is, they have those biological characteristics and they seem to live longer," said Roth. "It looks like that if you have any one of those markers, it is good for a couple of extra years."

In the monkeys, Roth said those on reduced feeding since the study started are dying at a rate that is about half that of the monkeys receiving a full food ration. He said all of the animals are fed the same nutritionally balanced chow, but the longer-lived group gets 30 percent less.

Although the findings suggested that a diet restriction of 30 percent or 40 percent could extend life, Roth said, "This is not practical for most people" and could be unhealthy.

Instead, he said the aging studies may lead to finding drugs that could mimic the effects and lifespan benefits of calorie restriction.

Spindler agreed, saying the study by Roth and his colleagues "gives us reason to hope."

By Paul Recer

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For the first time, researchers have found evidence suggesting people may live longer by eating fewer calories each day, a dietary restriction that already has shown in experiments to extend the lives of laboratory animals by up to 40 percent. Even if the evidence proves to be correct, it's unknown how much extra time people might live.

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National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI)

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international human genome sequencing consortium

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international human genome project consortium

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Human Genome Project Completion: Frequently Asked Questions

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A list of frequently asked questions about the completion of the Human Genome Project.

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A project that started in 1990, and lasted for 13 years. It was one of the greatest collaborative international research efforts of the 20th and 21st centuries. It cost 2.7 billion USD

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Genome - is all the genetic material that an individual (or a species) has.
Biofilms - Layers of slime that develop naturally when bacteria congregate on surfaces like stone, metal, and wood.

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- There are glow in the dark bacteria that scientists study to find the genetics of biofilms.
- The bioluminescence  as the glow is called, arises from chemical reactions taking place within the biofilm.
- Biofilms grow in all sorts of conditions. "desert varnish" thrives on rocks, canyon walls, or sometimes, entire mountain ranges, leaving a reddish or other-color stain.
FIND OUT FOR MORE          INFORMATION!

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What do you get when you add a chemical engineer, a graphic designer and a research scientist? Beautiful art. In a wondrous combination of nature and design, bioluminescent art involves using naturally glowing bacteria to create intricate and deliberate formations only visible when the lights are out.

These three came together to create "BIOGLYPHS," a collaborative gallery at Montana State University-Bozeman.

Photo: Rob Wilke/2002, MSU-Bozeman Bioglyphs Project

Betsey Pitts, a director of the project and research scientist at the Center for Biofilm Engineering, said the BIOGLYPHS project involved "some microbiology training, imagination, and a lot of petri dishes."

Photo: Rob Wilke/2002, MSU-Bozeman Bioglyphs Project

This kind of art doesn't use paint or paper. The group "painted" bioluminescent bacterium naturally present in marine environments onto the petri dishes. But bioluminescent art is also different in that it needs to be maintained from start to finish. The petri dishes were filled with artificial seawater agar and glued closed just so with plenty of oxygen and a temperature below 70 degrees Fahrenheit.

"This was all done in an afternoon, and the organisms were grown up and glowing in the dark by the next morning, when the show opened," said Pitts. As the nutrients gave out over time, the light production slowed and then finally stopped - thus ending the exhibit.

That concept of life and death is what drives "Living Drawings," a series of bioluminescent bacteria drawings by artist and geneticist Hunter Cole.

Video: "Her Own DNA: Living Drawings Created with Bioluminescent Bacteria with Protein Music," Hunter Cole.

Cole is also working on a series called "Living Light," in which she photographs people and objects using only the light of bioluminescent bacteria.

Another unorthodox use of art and nature came forth from artist Miya Ando and photographer L. Young. With a different kind of bioluminescence, Ando's exhibit involved 1,000 Bodhi leaves painted with a nontoxic glowing phosphorescent pigment.

Ando said the project was inspired by the ancient Japanese festival, Obon.

"It is believed that during this three-day ceremony the spirits of one's departed family members and ancestors return to the home and are reunited with their loved ones," said Ando. "Lanterns are hung inside the house to welcome the spirits inside, and on the evening of the last day of the ceremony, lanterns are floated on rivers to guide the spirits back to the netherworld."

"There is a beautiful, non-denominational notion of respect, interconnectivity, history and memory that is celebrated with the festival of Obon," Ando said.

Related posts on MNN:

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Bioluminescent art: Beautiful bacteria glow in the dark

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What do you get when you add a chemical engineer, a graphic designer and a research scientist? Beautiful art. In a wondrous combination of nature and design, bioluminescent art involves using naturally glowing bacteria to create intricate and deliberate formations only visible when the lights are out.

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- A diagnostic test can search for differences in the level of expression of a particular gene in breast cancer cells and predict whether a person will respond to a drug called Herceptin.
- Cancerous cells of some people who have breast cancer make abundance of "HER 2" proteins.

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Acetaminophen, also known as Tylenol, effects people differently based on their genome. This is due to differences in how the body breaks down medicine. Other medicines can also fall under this category.

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Genetics is important in understanding medicine. Genetics can tell pharmacists and doctors which medicine would work better for each patient.