14/5/2015

Panelists offer pros and cons of 'genomic revolution' | Cornell Chronicle

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Panelists offer pros and cons of 'genomic revolution'

By Linda B. Glaser

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Adam Boyko, left, Charles Aquadro, Margaret Smith, Rory Todhunter, Philip
Reilly and Stephen Hilgartner discuss The Genomic Revolution: How DNA
Information Is Changing Our Lives, at a Charter Day Weekend Panel April 26.

A panel of experts explored

this and other questions at a Charter Day Weekend panel, The Genomic Revolution: How DNA
Information Is Changing Our Lives, moderated by Stephen Hilgartner 83, Ph.D. 88, professor of
science and technology studies, April 26.

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Every one of us should care about our genome, said Charles Aquadro, director of the Cornell

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Center for Comparative and Population Genomics (3CPG) and professor of molecular biology and

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genetics in the College of Arts and Sciences, because knowing something about your genome can

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have a big impact on the quality of your life. For example, because of a genetic variant, more than

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half the worlds population cant digest milk past the nursing age.

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Genetic testing is already a part of our world, said Aquadro. For example, he noted that all NCAA
athletes including 10 percent of Cornell students are required to undergo genetic testing for
sickle cell trait, a result of several training deaths being traced to the disease. But researchers also
have discovered a surprisingly positive side to the sickle cell gene: It conveys protection against

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Currently, the approach to newborn genetic screening is to only test if there is a meaningful
intervention available to help the child, said Dr. Philip Reilly 69, a partner in Third Rock Ventures.

Cornell Chronicle

But the rapid improvements in DNA sequencing have set the technological stage for a massive

George Lowery
607-255-2171
gpl5@cornell.edu

increase in carrier testing and prenatal screening. In 1972, for example, the Jewish community
adopted Tay-Sachs screening for potential marriage partners; since then, Tay-Sachs in that
population has fallen 95 percent.
Reilly asked, Will we adopt a new eugenics, consumer-driven and technologically enabled? Will
we be seduced by DNA testing, not only to avoid diseases in children but to seek superior traits?

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Joe Schwartz
607-254-6235
bjs54@cornell.edu

Genomic technologies already have led to superior crops that are insect-, herbicide- and virusresistant, said Margaret Smith, Ph.D. 82, professor of plant breeding and genetics. Genetic
engineering has not, however, led to increased crop yield potential, a trait influenced by the entire
genomic structure of a plant.
Combining genomic knowledge with natural recombination of the built-in genetic code, said
Smith, is the more powerful approach, to understand better how crops work, and then breed

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14/5/2015

Panelists offer pros and cons of 'genomic revolution' | Cornell Chronicle

plants that can sustainably meet future needs and grow more food on less arable land.
Humanity has been engaged in a vast genomics project for hundreds of years, noted Rory
Todhunter, Ph.D. 92, the Maurice R. and Corinne P. Greenberg Professor of Surgery at the College
of Veterinary Medicine. We have designer dogs, cats, horses and chickens. The problem is that, in
selectively breeding animals, weve concentrated deleterious [genes].
The concentration of these problematic genes in purebred animals, however, has been a boon to
researchers. The Cornell Veterinary Biobank contains genetic information about more than 15,000
animals, information that is proving useful for animal as well as human medicine. Most of the
diseases and traits which weve mapped with these animals have human analogs, said
Todhunter.
Adam Boyko, assistant professor of biomedical sciences, said DNA sequencing has shown us that
humans and chimps share 98 percent of their genetic material.
Not only can we sequence the entire human genome, he noted, we also can sequence tumors and
RNA and we can sequence the past. Researchers have sequenced almost an entire Neanderthal
genome from a finger bone, as well as identifying a new human ancestor using a bone and a tooth.
Linda B. Glaser is a writer for the College of Arts and Sciences.

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