PAST
The father of genetics is Gregor Mendel, a late 19th century scientist. Mendel studied 'trait inheritance', he did research on how the traits were inherited to the descendants. He observed that organisms (pea plants) inherit traits by way of discrete "units of inheritance". This term is no longer used, and is known as the term “gens” today.
·Mendelian and classical genetics: Mendel traced the inheritance patterns of certain traits in pea plants and described them mathematically. Although this pattern of inheritance could only be observed for a few traits, Mendel's work suggested that heredity was particulate, not acquired, and that the inheritance patterns of many traits could be explained through simple rules and proportions.
After the rediscovery of Mendel's work, scientists tried to determine which molecules in the cell were responsible for inheritance. In 1911, Thomas Hunt Morganargued that genes are on chromosomes, based on observations of a sex-linked white eye mutation in fruit flies. In 1913, his student Alfred Sturtevant used the phenomenon of genetic linkage to show that genes are arranged linearly on the chromosome.
Famous scientists: Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, Neils Bohr, Charles Darwin, Louis Pasteur, Galileo Galilei, Lavoisier, Kepler, Heisenberg, Schrodinger, Alfred Wegener...
Related to genetics: Dagfinn Aarskog, Jon Aase, John Abelson, Bruce Alberts...
PRESENT
Although trait inheritance and molecular inheritance mechanisms of genes are still a primary principle of genetics in the 21st century, modern genetics has expanded beyond inheritance to studying the function and behavior of genes, and these are studied within the context of the cell. Genetics has given rise to a number of sub-fields including epigenetics and population genetics. Organisms studied within the broad field span the domain of life, including bacteria, plants, animals, and humans.
Due to the extent of generic knowledge acquired over time, it is now recognized that the adaptation of genetic codes to the environment is the force behind evolution. However, these alterations occur gradually over the course of many generations.
Now scientists have the capacity to identify some of these alterations and are learning more about how genes interact with other genes and the environment to cause diseasse or other health effects.
Famous scientists: Stephen Hawking, Tim Berners-Lee, Noam Chomsky, Richard Dawkins, Persi Diaconis, Jane Goodall, Alan Guth...
Related to genetics: Robert C. Elston, Nina Fedoroff, Andrew Fire, Robert L. Fischer
Due to the extent of generic knowledge acquired over time, it is now recognized that the adaptation of genetic codes to the environment is the force behind evolution. However, these alterations occur gradually over the course of many generations.
Now scientists have the capacity to identify some of these alterations and are learning more about how genes interact with other genes and the environment to cause diseasse or other health effects.
Famous scientists: Stephen Hawking, Tim Berners-Lee, Noam Chomsky, Richard Dawkins, Persi Diaconis, Jane Goodall, Alan Guth...
Related to genetics: Robert C. Elston, Nina Fedoroff, Andrew Fire, Robert L. Fischer
FUTURE
The advances in bioinformatics have made comparison of genomes across species efficient, bringing the possibility of a comprehensive model of the evolutionary history of life closer to reality.
Scientists promise to have a life closer to reality, which means that we will get to know even more about genetics.
Scientists claim that they are going to focus more on the diseases, so as to improve our lives. However, the genetics of complex diseases such as heart disease remain far from clear, and it seems impossible to improve on this disease.
The Cancer Genome Atlas aims to identify all the genetic abnormalities seen in 50 major types of cancer.
With a progressive understanding of the molecular and genomic factors that play in diseasses, scientists anticipate more effective medical trestments with fewer side effects. Furthermore, the NIH is concentrating efforts in making genome sequencing more affordable and this more widely available to the public. Genetics researchers are becoming increasingly able to connect DNA variation with conditions such as intelligence and personality traits.
* If you would like to see them all, you should check this website: http://dujs.dartmouth.edu/spring-2013-15th-anniversary-edition/genetics-past-present-and-future#.VoQuwhXhDIU *
Scientists promise to have a life closer to reality, which means that we will get to know even more about genetics.
Scientists claim that they are going to focus more on the diseases, so as to improve our lives. However, the genetics of complex diseases such as heart disease remain far from clear, and it seems impossible to improve on this disease.
The Cancer Genome Atlas aims to identify all the genetic abnormalities seen in 50 major types of cancer.
With a progressive understanding of the molecular and genomic factors that play in diseasses, scientists anticipate more effective medical trestments with fewer side effects. Furthermore, the NIH is concentrating efforts in making genome sequencing more affordable and this more widely available to the public. Genetics researchers are becoming increasingly able to connect DNA variation with conditions such as intelligence and personality traits.
* If you would like to see them all, you should check this website: http://dujs.dartmouth.edu/spring-2013-15th-anniversary-edition/genetics-past-present-and-future#.VoQuwhXhDIU *