Life science is the science of the systematic exposition of major topics related to the characteristics of life. The laws of physics and chemistry that govern the inanimate world apply equally to the living world, needlessly giving a mysterious vitality to living matter. An in-depth understanding of the life sciences will undoubtedly contribute to the development of other areas of human knowledge, such as physics and chemistry. For example, one of the century-old puzzles in the life sciences is "Where does intelligence come from?" We know all about the activity of a single neuron, but we know nothing about how intelligence is generated when tens of billions of neurons are combined to form a brain. Arguably the greatest challenge to human intelligence is how to explain intelligence itself. The gradual deepening of this problem will also change the structure of human knowledge accordingly. Life science research relies not only on the knowledge of physics and chemistry, but also on the instruments provided by the latter, such as optical and electron microscopes, protein electrophoresis, ultracentrifuges, X-ray machines, nuclear magnetic **** vibration spectrometers, positron emission tomographs, and the list goes on and on. Life scientists also come together from a variety of disciplines. The cross-pollination of disciplines has resulted in many promising growth points and emerging disciplines. It is also a popular specialty in 2011...
Edit Major Topics
Major Topics
The major topics studied or being studied in the life sciences are: what is the chemical nature of biological substances? How do these chemicals interconvert and exhibit life characteristics in the body? What is the composition and structure of biological macromolecules? How do cells work? How do cells of all shapes and sizes fulfill a wide variety of functions? How do genes work as hereditary material? What mechanisms drive cellular replication? How does a fertilized egg cell use its genetic information in the bizarre process of developing into a highly differentiated multicellular organism made up of many extremely different types of cells? How do multiple cell types combine to form organs and tissues? How do species form? What factors cause evolution? Are humans still evolving? How are species related to each other in a particular ecological niche? What factors govern the abundance of each species in this habitat? What is the physiological basis of animal behavior? How are memories formed? Where are memories stored? What factors can influence learning and memory? Where does intelligence come from? Are there intelligent beings in the universe other than on Earth? How did life begin? And so on.
The main learning content
The course of Introduction to Life Science mainly learns: the concept and research content of life science, a brief history of life science research, the hot spots and development trend of life science research, bioethics), the foundation of life science (the material basis of life, the basic phenomena of life, the genetic inheritance of organisms and mutation, the origin of life and evolution, the diversity of organisms, organisms and the environment) and modern life science (life science and modern environment) and modern life science (life science and the modern phenomena of life). ) and modern life sciences (life sciences and modern biotechnology, life sciences and agricultural sciences, life sciences and environmental sciences, life sciences and bioenergy, life sciences and modern medicine, life sciences and drug research and development, life sciences and marine biological resources, life sciences and military biotechnology, bioinformatics and biochips, life histology and systems biology
Editorials The significant features of contemporary life sciences
The significant features of contemporary life sciences are: the breakthrough results of molecular biology, which has become the growth point of life sciences, and revolutionized the position of life sciences in natural sciences.In the 1950s, the discovery of the double-helix structure of DNA, the genetic material, opened up a new era for the study of life activities at the molecular level. Since then, the establishment of the "central law" that genetic information is transmitted from DNA to proteins through RNA and the deciphering of the genetic code have provided the theoretical basis for the birth of genetic engineering. The artificial synthesis of proteins has made people realize that the phenomenon of life is not mysterious. These major research results have clarified that nucleic acids and proteins are the most basic substances of life, and that life activities are catalyzed by enzymes. The chemical nature of most enzymes is protein. Proteins are the main bearers of the regulatory control of all life activities. Thus revealing the structure, function and interrelationship of biological macromolecules such as proteins, enzymes, nucleic acids, etc., and laying a theoretical foundation for the study of the nature of life phenomena and the law of activity.
Edit paragraph identification technology
Paternity identification technology in the life sciences Through the test and analysis of genetic markers to determine whether the parents and children are biological relationship, called paternity test or paternity identification.DNA is the basic carrier of human heredity, human chromosomes are made up of DNA, and each human cell has 23 pairs of chromosomes (46) pairs of chromosomes, which are respectively from the father and mother. The 23 chromosomes provided by each of the husband and wife are paired with each other after fertilization, constituting 23 pairs (46) of chromosomes of the child. This cycle constitutes the continuation of life.
Edit Genetic testing
Genetic testing in the life sciences
Genes come from the parents and remain almost constant throughout life, but because of defects in the genes, for some people they are born with a predisposition to certain diseases, i.e., the presence of some genotypes in the human body increases the risk of developing a certain disease, which is called a disease susceptibility The genes are called disease susceptibility genes. As long as we know which disease susceptibility genes are present in our bodies, we can deduce which areas of disease people are prone to. However, how can we know which disease susceptibility genes we have? This requires genetic testing.
How is it done
How is genetic testing done? Using a special sampling rod to scrape off cells from the subject's oral mucosa, through advanced instrumentation, researchers can get a sample of the subject's DNA from these cells, DNA sequencing and SNP single nucleotide polymorphism testing of these samples, it will be clear that the subject's gene sequencing and other people what are the differences between the samples, and has been found to be the genetic samples of a number of types of diseases, can be compared to find the subject's genes. After comparing with the genetic samples of many diseases that have been identified, it is possible to find out which disease susceptibility genes are present in the DNA of the test subject. Genetic testing is not the same as a medical diagnosis of a disease. The results of a genetic test can tell you how much risk you have of developing a disease, but it does not mean that you already have the disease or that you will develop it in the future.
The role of genetic testing
Through genetic testing, people can be provided with personalized health guidance services, personalized medication guidance services and personalized physical examination guidance services. Then accurate prevention can be carried out several years or even decades before the occurrence of diseases, instead of blind health care; people can effectively avoid the environmental factors of disease occurrence by adjusting diet and nutrition, changing lifestyles, increasing the frequency of medical checkups, and accepting early diagnosis and treatment and many other methods. Genetic testing can not only tell us in advance how high the risk of disease is, but may also clearly guide us to correctly use medication and avoid the harm that drugs can do to us. It will change the situation of indiscriminate, ineffective and harmful use of drugs and blind health care in traditional passive medical treatment.
Edited Development Outlook
Life Science Development and Outlook Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering Ba De Nian Ba De Nian
This century is the century of life sciences, and as a medical science, it has long been the task of preventing and curing diseases. However, from now on, the task of medicine will be mainly to maintain and enhance people's health and improve their quality of life. In this scope, in the past, medicine is facing the patient, now medicine will face the whole population, the former medicine are in the hospital, but now in Europe, North America, half of the doctors have left the hospital, they are in the community, and the people live together, guide the people's health care, medical treatment, and more importantly, is in the guidance of the people there how to live a correct life. We still have 97% of the doctors in our country today in hospitals. With the development of the times, doctors will have to gradually go out into the community and into the people. In this sense, the allocation of resources for doctors in China is bound to change. Now China does not have the concept of a fast, green channel to the emergency room. Building fast, green lanes to the emergency room is completely necessary. The concept of easy access is the way forward. Many countries have begun to implement the Brain Death Act. After brain death, organs, tissues and cells are still alive due to the support of circulation. If this dead person had a good style during his life and offered to donate his organs to other people, he can do kidney and liver transplants. Once the human genome is essentially complete, there will be a great deal of impact on medicine, and more profound impacts will occur. Many genetic diseases can also be combated by life improvements and environmental improvements. Now a drug is a compound, but in the near future, drugs will not only be compounds, but also proteins, genes, cells, and even certain tissues and organs. Because of this, the first thing to be examined in the future drug review will no longer be pharmacology, toxicology, or clinic, but first of all, ethics, and there will be an ethical review before everything is carried out. Why do I say this? Because, if a gene is to be turned into a drug, or if a tissue or organ is to become a drug in the future, the first thing to do is to allow or not to allow. Looking back at the major breakthroughs in the life sciences in the second half of the 20th century, one can look forward to the prospects of life sciences as a pioneer discipline in the 21st century. The 1950s: In April 1953, Nature published the results of the research conducted by the American biologist Watson and the British physicist Crick*** together-? The double helix structure model of the DNA molecule. The establishment of this model is a symbol of the birth of molecular biology, opened the door to the "mystery of life", changed the status of biology in the whole of science, but also to the technical sciences and social sciences has brought a huge impact and influence, therefore, it is called a "revolution in biology Therefore, it is called "the revolution of biology". 1953 NATURE
60s: On September 15, 1965, it was reported that China succeeded in synthesizing biologically active bovine insulin for the first time by artificial means. This is a breakthrough in the process of controlling the origin of life. It broke the boundary between general organic molecules and biological macromolecules, and brought the dawn of synthetic life; it also broke the mysticism of life, and revealed the unity of life and non-living matter. Synthetic Bovine Insulin
70s: In the early 70s, with the development of restriction endonuclease and the establishment of DNA molecular hybridization technology, molecular biology entered the era of technologization, and genetic engineering also developed, and genetic recombination technology appeared, thus creating a new field of biotechnology, genetic engineering. On this basis, modern biotechnology has gradually emerged, especially in the last decade or so, it has developed rapidly and has been more and more emphasized by countries all over the world. In the 80's: PCR technology invention, the United States of America California Cetus biotechnology company Smith found that in the cloning process, do not use bacteria to copy the screened DNA, but with DNA polymerase to copy, because the bacteria themselves also use it to copy DNA. he invented this method called polymerase chain reaction, referred to as PCR. this method can amplify any specific DNA in the test tube sequence. sequences in a test tube. 1990s: animal cloning takes off. In embryology, cloning is the process of obtaining a genetically identical group of cells or group of individuals from a single cell by means of asexual reproduction; these cells are called cloned cells and the group of individuals is called a cloned animal. It was not until the end of this century that there was enough knowledge and results of scientific experiments to be able to transfer an individual cell from a particular adult animal into a mature oocyte from which the genetic material had been removed, and then into another adult animal to allow it to grow and develop, ultimately resulting in the production of larvae - cloned animals - that have genetically identical genes to the somatic cell. Wilmut I et al reported in Nature 1997, 385:810-813 that live sheep were obtained by cell nuclear transplantation using three new cell populations of cells as donor cells. The world's first cloned sheep
The three types of cells were obtained in vitro from the blastoderm cells of a day 9 embryo, the fibroblasts of a day 26 fetus, and the mammary epithelial cells of a 6-year-old adult sheep in the third month of pregnancy. As a result of the experiments, nuclear transplantation of three different source cells yielded four, three and one lambs, respectively. The success of nuclear cell transplantation with somatic cells as donor cells is undoubtedly one of the breakthrough achievements in biology in the 20th century. It is technically difficult, involves a wide range of fields and requires a variety of experimental procedures, but because of its potential application value, it has been attracting many scientists to explore it persistently. The year 1997 was the year of cloning. on February 24th, the Roslin Institute of the United Kingdom and PPL Biotechnology announced that they had successfully bred a little ewe, Dolly, in July 1996 using the body cells of a six-year-old ewe. It was immediately hailed as one of the most significant, and at the same time controversial, technological breakthroughs of the century. Many countries have rated it as the most outstanding and significant scientific and technological achievement in 1997, such as Germany's "Focus" newsweekly and the United States "Science" weekly evaluation of the top 10 scientific and technological achievements in 1997, Dolly are on the list. The United States "Popular Science" rated 100 scientific and technological achievements, Dolly topped the list. On March 2, the U.S. announced that two genetically different monkeys had been successfully reproduced in August 1996 using different embryonic cells, and in March, the Roslin Institute announced that they were experimenting with asexual reproduction using cells from dead cows. This is the world's first cloning experiment using dead animals. If this experiment is successful, will it be possible to clone dead people? On July 24th, they also announced that in July 1997, the world's first asexually reproduced transgenic sheep were bred. One of the lambs, Polly, born on July 9, has been confirmed to contain the implanted human genes. On August 6, a biotechnology company in Wisconsin, U.S.A., announced that it had cloned a calf with black-and-white fur called "Gene" six months earlier, which could be used for mass reproduction to produce high-quality cows with more milk and meat. In mid-October, the Bath University of Technology in the United Kingdom announced the creation of a headless frog embryo. After the improvement of this technology, it is possible to use human tissue to cultivate human headless embryos, and when they are mature, the corresponding organs will be taken from them for human organ transplantation, which solves the problem of global shortage of transplantation donors. Japan, France, Brazil, South Korea and other countries have also begun to animal asexual reproduction technology research. German scientists announced at the beginning of 1997 that they had bred a transgenic sheep, whose milk contains the blood clotting protein needed by human beings. Russia, on the other hand, has bred a genetically modified sheep, which can be used to make cheese and to refine medicines. The breakthrough in cloning technology is a great scientific achievement. Its application to tissues, plants and animals has led to the successful development of new treatments for diseases such as cancer, diabetes and malignant fibrosis; and in the future, it could be used to create surrogate skin, cartilage or bone tissues for people injured in accidents and nerve tissues for treating spinal cord injuries. The prospects for development are promising. American scientist Richard Sid in Chicago on December 5, a fertility technology seminar, talked about plans to borrow Dolly's technology, the use of some microscopic manipulation equipment will be taken from a woman's egg in the DNA eliminated, replaced by the person's DNA will be cloned, once fertilized, the fertilized egg will divide into 50 to 100 cells, the formation of the embryo can be transplanted into the body, a baby clone will then be able to be used in the future to create a baby clone. A baby clone will be born nine months later, and he intends to corporatize the production process, with the ultimate goal of setting up 10 to 20 cloning clinics in the United States and another five to six clinics of the same type overseas. The cloning of 200,000 people a year around the world has been condemned, opposed and banned by governments and scientists. On February 23rd, the Roslin Institute and the British PPL Medical Company announced that it had cloned another calf, named "Mr. Jefferson", using cell nuclear transplantation technology, but with embryonic cells, so it is different from Dolly. Over the past 20 years, biotechnology has been widely used in industry, agriculture, chemistry, environmental protection and other fields, but so far, the most outstanding achievements of biotechnology is in medicine. Since genetic engineers have mastered gene cutting, splicing and recombination techniques, they can take out useless genes and add useful genes in living organisms. The production of new drugs and the creation of new diagnostic and therapeutic methods, for example, before 1962, insulin, which is used to treat diabetes, could only be extracted from the pancreas of pigs or cows. 1978, the use of genetic engineering technology to artificially synthesize insulin was a success, and shortly thereafter, scientists were able to use microorganisms with gene transfers, to mass-produce pure, artificial insulin; human growth hormone, which is used to treat dwarfism, was successfully developed in 1979. The human growth hormone for the treatment of dwarfism was successfully developed in 1979 and applied to the clinic in 1983. 1986, in the United States and Europe, genetically engineered interferon was put on the market successively; thereafter, a large number of genetically engineered drugs such as erythropoietin and hepatitis B vaccine were put on the market one after another. Nowadays, more than 50 kinds of new biotechnology drugs and vaccines have been put on the market. China has developed 15 kinds of self-developed on the market. 80's, China has also developed a successful genetic engineering interferon, and used in the clinic and industrialization. Scientists believe that genetic engineers in the next few years, it will be possible to develop genetically engineered drugs for the treatment of immune system diseases, cardiovascular diseases and cancer and other intractable diseases. New therapies developed using biotechnology are also increasing, particularly in the treatment of hereditary diseases and immune system disorders, for example, scientists at the National Institutes of Health used gene therapy to treat a child with adenosine deaminase deficiency. They injected healthy genes capable of secreting adenosine deaminase into the child, and the child's immune system defects were repaired and its function returned to normal. The Institute of Genetics of Fudan University in China cooperated with Changhai Hospital to treat two hemophiliacs by using reverse transcription virus gene transfer technology, and achieved remarkable efficacy. The patients, who have long relied on blood transfusion to maintain their lives, have greatly improved symptoms such as joint bleeding and muscle atrophy, and the concentration of coagulation factors in their bodies has risen exponentially, and their coagulation activity has greatly improved, and they have continued to be without transfusion therapy for 18 months. This is the best case of hemophilia treatment in the world so far, and gene therapy was officially used in the clinic in 1990. Approved by the Ministry of Health, the gene therapy for hemophilia technology of Shanghai Fudan University Institute of Genetics and Changhai Hospital has been formally applied in clinical practice, becoming the first case of gene therapy technology approved by the state. So far, hundreds of diagnostic and testing devices have been developed by applying biotechnology in clinical practice, the most important of which is the screening test device for blood products, which can ensure that blood products are not contaminated by HIV, hepatitis B and C viruses. Biotechnology in agriculture, animal husbandry and food industry applications are also notable. 1994 May 18, the U.S. Federal Food and Drug Administration officially approved the application of genetic engineering cultivation of tomatoes on the market. The California Gene Corporation invested 20 million US dollars in the cultivation of this kind of genetically modified tomatoes, which are non-perishable, resistant to storage and transportation, and can be picked after they are fully ripe, so the taste is particularly delicious. Successful transgenic tomatoes bred in Japan have also been planted in Tsukuba City. Pest-resistant potatoes have been successfully cultivated in Mexico, and since last year, the Mexican government has been supplying farmers with such genetically modified potato seedlings, so that about 60% to 10% of losses can be avoided each year. Not afraid of herbicides, transgenic cotton, specializing in weaving denim blue cotton, with insecticidal ability of transgenic tobacco have been successfully cultivated. Recently, scientists in China have bred the world's first transgenic rice using low-energy ion beam technology, and the use of genetic recombination technology to breed petunias with a long flowering period and the ability to change the color of the flowers, indicating that China's plant genetic engineering has narrowed the gap with the world level. In animal genetic engineering is also fruitful. Since the 1990s, genetically modified animals - cows, sheep, pigs, chickens and so on - have been successfully bred one after another. European Leifeld Bioengineering Company recently bred a cow with human genes, and its female offspring can produce milk containing iron-lactic acid, which can promote children's absorption of iron, like human breast milk. 1992, the British Edinburgh Pharmaceutical Protein Company, cultivated a kind of genetically engineered sheep called "Tracy", which contains a kind of milk that can control the human body. The milk of this sheep contains a kind of protease that can control the growth of human tissues. This protease exists only in the human body and cannot be chemically synthesized and industrially produced. Therefore, the successful cultivation of "Tracy" sheep has aroused great interest in the pharmaceutical industry, and the Bayer Chemical Company of Germany has bought the right to use this kind of sheep at any price. Edinburgh, England, Roslin Institute of Physiology and Genetics to breed a transgenic cockerel, its female offspring of the eggs contained in the treatment of hemophilia must be coagulation factors and treatment of emphysema disease of a human protein. In January of this year, Israeli scientists also bred a successful goat named "Gitti", "Gitti" with human serum protein gene. The female offspring of "Kitty" can extract 10 grams of albumin from each liter of milk produced, serum protein is a major component of human plasma, which can be used to treat shock, burns and replenish blood loss. Scientists at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom have bred transgenic pigs that can provide the human body with hearts, lungs and kidneys, and the transplantation of organs from such pigs into the human body can greatly reduce the risk of rejection by the recipient. At present, countries all over the world are increasing their investment in biotechnology research, vigorously developing biotechnology industry and developing and producing biotechnology products. In the past 20 years, the United States has established more than 1,000 biotechnology companies. Starting from 1998, the revenue of the biotechnology industry in the U.S. began to increase dramatically. the 1990s saw a golden period of sales of biotechnology products. It is expected that by the end of 1995, sales will reach 6 billion dollars, and the United States will spend 4 billion dollars on biotechnology development in 1995. The Japanese government has recently decided to take biotechnology, new materials and new energy as the key areas of scientific and technological development. Japan has spared no expense in purchasing large quantities of American biotechnology achievements and patents to develop its own biotechnology industry. Japan's rapid development has threatened the leading position of the United States in the field of biotechnology. The National Research Council of the United States has called for the cessation of one-way technology export to Japan, and the British Government has adjusted its strategy for scientific and technological development and decided to give priority to the development of bioscience and technology. As a developing country, Thailand spends US$60 million annually on bioscience research, and in order to accelerate the development of bioscience and technology, Thailand has set up the Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Center. In order to accelerate the development of bioscience and technology, Thailand has set up the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology. China has included bioengineering technology in its "863" high-tech development plan. With the passage of time, the biotechnology industry in terms of scale and importance, will exceed the computer industry, the 21st century to become the most rapid development of the industry!
Editing the Book of Life
Writing the Book of Life
Wei Nong
April 14, scientists completed the sequencing of the human genome, that is to say, they have finally finished writing the book of human life, which used to be regarded as impossible; this book contains many of the secrets of human beings themselves; it contains the key to transforming medicine and understanding diseases; It also contains all the people's great expectations for life science to transform life. A new era of life science has begun.
The last character in the book of life
April 8, at 0000 Eastern Daylight Time, 16 laboratories around the world e-mailed the last bit of genetic code to a centralized database, completing the last step in the 13-year quest for the human genome project. At 2 a.m., Collins, the director of the U.S. National Institutes of Health and head of the program, announced the official end of the Human Genome Project at a small celebration in the small town of Bethesda, outside Washington. From then on, the Human Genome Project went into history - Start: 1990; Completion: 2003; Participating countries: the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Japan, and China; Cost: 2.6 billion U.S. dollars; Achievement: Drainage of the order of the genetic code of about 3 billion in the human genetic material. The Human Genome Project has been called the "Moon Landing Project" of the life sciences, and the difficulty of the project can be imagined. However, progress has been smoother than expected. At least twice before, scientists have announced the completion of the project, but the launch of the human genome sketches, but not the full version. This time, scientists killed the latest full "book of life" also covers only 99% of the human genome. However, compared with the previous two announcements of the human genome, this time both the scientific and political communities seem to be much more calm. Perhaps, as the scientists in charge of the human genome quoted Shakespeare when announcing the news, "The past is but a prologue", and scientists no longer have time to look back on the results of the human genome, because a more difficult task lies ahead. After the official conclusion of the Human Genome Project, a new program, "Genome to Life," has begun under the responsibility of the U.S. Department of Energy, which will push genetic research into every aspect of life, such as the role of genes in the human species, their influence on personality and behavior, and so on. The new exploration will push genetic research into every aspect of life, such as the role of genes in the human species, their influence on personality, behavior and so on. Experts say further research is likely to lead to a range of social, ethical and legal debates.
Golden age has just begun
On April 25, 1953, the British scientific journal Nature published a paper by James Watson and Francis Crick, which was considered by many as "one of the most important scientific discoveries of the 20th century": the genetic material, DNA (deoxyribose nucleotide), is a double helix. nucleotides) is a double helix structure. Since then, mankind has made rapid progress in the exploration of life sciences. However, how the genetic code is arranged within the DNA has been troubling scientists all over the world. DNA double-helix structure
Compared with the original sketch of the human genome announced in 2000, the full genome has filled in many of the holes in the sketch and made a number of changes. The sketch had one error for every 10,000 bases; now, that error rate is down to one in 100,000. One of the main and biggest questions that researchers now consider is how many genes a human being actually needs to complete the development and growth of life. Current estimates range between 2.5 and 30,000, well below the 100,000 originally estimated by scientists. Francis Collins says that the real analysis has just begun, "We will figure out what is ****ing similar and what is different in many ways from person to person." Yes, mankind has only read all the letters of this great book, but a much greater "story" is still waiting to be read. What has been accomplished today is but a glimpse of this book. And what has been accomplished covers only 99% of the genetic regions contained in the human genome, leaving 1% that cannot be resolved by existing sequencing technologies. Long before the full human genome was completed, scientists had already shifted their goals to areas such as gene function identification and protein research. Scientists believe that at least 4,000 genes are directly related to the occurrence of human diseases, and a large number of genes are inextricably linked to diseases. However, before identifying the disease-causing genes, the location, structure and function of tens of thousands of genetically significant genes on the genome must first be analyzed. After figuring out the genes that cause disease, genetic testing will make rapid progress. Take cancer, for example? This disease usually takes years to develop, and effective testing can warn people that they may be at risk of developing cancer. Genetic testing can also help people understand themselves better. Many people who come from families with a history of a particular disease have long wanted to find out if they are destined for a family genetic disorder. Of course, some people refuse to be tested because of privacy concerns. Scientists predict that genetic medicine will enter a golden age within 10 to 20 years after the completion of the Human Genome Project.
Behind the Book of Life
The Human Genome Project
The Human Genome Project dates back to 1984, when scientists met at a ski resort in Utah, USA, to explore ways to identify mutations in the genes of survivors of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan. In a 1987 report, a U.S. Department of Energy advisory committee urged the U.S. to begin a human genetics research initiative, foreseeing that the research would be "extraordinary in its breadth and depth" and "will ultimately provide a book on mankind". In 1988, a federal report approved the Human Genome Project, and in 1990, the United States Congress began funding the project, which is scheduled to end on September 30, 2005. At the same time, all discoveries were made public during the course of the research. The goals of this project were: to measure the order of the 3 billion base pairs contained in the human genome; to determine the distribution of genes on 24 pairs of chromosomes; to draw a molecular-level anatomical map of the human body; and to input all the genetic information about human genes into the gene bank, helping scientists to grasp the information about how base pairs make up genes, the function of each gene, and how they interact with each other, as well as controlling the course of a person's life. At the time, not all scientists thought this research was feasible because the necessary technology barely existed. In the first few years after the program began, researchers were mostly dedicated to developing methods for genetic analysis, and computational biology and information storage technologies progressed rapidly as a result. At the beginning of the program, it cost $10 to identify a base pair. A trained technician could identify about 10,000 base pairs per workday. Now, a base pair can be determined for as little as 5 cents, and a "lightning" robot can process 10,000 base pairs per second. In 1999, China joined the study, taking on the task of sequencing 1% of the bases. That year, the Human Genome Project accelerated dramatically, not least because of the emergence of Celera. Venter, who had been a researcher at the National Institutes of Health, led Celera, which announced in 1998 that it would measure human genetic data within two years and sell the data to research organizations and pharmaceutical companies. Celera's use of a high-speed sequencing machine invented by Venter greatly increased the pace of research, which put a lot of pressure on the Human Genome Project. The state-of-the-art gene sequencing machines in Celera's labs ran 24 hours a day and completed the sketches two months before the Human Genome Project. Not to be outdone, Collins's National Human Genome Research Institute produced a slightly more accurate version of the map in June 2000 than Venter's. Although the Human Genome Project is officially over, the sequencing is not 100 percent complete. Scientists say that, for some unfathomable reason, 1% of the human genome has proved impossible to sequence, and that only with the advent of relevant new technologies can this challenge be expected to be overcome. Perhaps this 1% holds other mysteries of life. These mysteries are not so easy to unravel, as one scholar put it: "When we think of nature, we think of the sun, the moon, and the earth and other things that the eye can see. What charts the design of the human body, on the other hand, is the great power of nature that is not visible to our eyes."
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