I saw an article in Monday’s New York  Times about IBM launching a project to develop a method to sequence the human genome more affordably then ever before. The IBM researchers have a vision of personalized medicine consisting of treatments specifically tailored to an individuals genetic predispositions.

The highlight for the article for me was the following quote:

“More and more of biology is becoming an information science, which is very much a business for I.B.M.”

This article reinforces the increasingly technologically advanced nature of medicine.

John Markoff, the author of the article, also highlighted the fact that there are at least 17 companies working on developing a dominant method of genome sequencing.

Bio-technology could become the American economy’s growth engine and a major export in the next decade.

It is such innovation that should encourage an even stronger emphasis on math and science education at all levels in American schools.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Beyond the Genome (wired.com)
• DNA sequencing in a holey new way (news.bbc.co.uk)

Biology · Genetics · Human genome · IBM · John Markoff · New York Times · Technology · United States

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