"One of the Israeli achievements in the human genome project was the creation of a bridging facility between all the gene databases that were decoded, which do not 'talk' to each other," said Prof. Lantz, head of the Human Genome Research Center, who was the keynote speaker at the conference held in Tel Aviv
By Yossi Al-Toni, The People, DailyMaily | Photo: Niv Kantor
Prof. Doron Lantz, Head of the Human Genome Research Center at the Weizmann Institute of Science
A compilation of Prof. Doron Lantz's articles
"Computing - and especially IT and processing power - has become a critical and essential component for understanding the human genome. Biologists, who are engaged in mapping the human genome, have become 'addicted' computer consumers and extremely enthusiastic about the capabilities provided by IT," said Prof. Doron Lantz, head of the Center for Human Genome Research at the Weizmann Institute of Science, who was the keynote speaker at the 11th annual conference of The PMI - the Israeli Association for Project Management, which was held yesterday (Thursday) with the participation of more than a thousand people at the Avniu Conference Center in Kiryat Airport, produced by ThePeople. According to Prof. Lantz, the importance of IT during the project was so great that during it, a new scientific field was created - bioinformatics, which combines two fields: IT and biology. "My students," said Prof. Lantz, "study computer science alongside their biology studies." With the help of parallel supercomputers, we decipher the genome."
According to Lancet, the human genome project is one of the biggest projects that humanity has undertaken. The project, which cost about three billion dollars, took about a decade and in many ways, according to him, it is still ongoing. He explained to the audience that this was a project that was carried out almost entirely democratically, without one body coordinating it and giving orders to others. Prof. Lantz added that the recognition that it is possible to read this huge "book" called the human genome, reached maturity in the 80s, but beyond the scientific interest, he said, the biggest challenge in the project was actually technological. He pointed out that, contrary to the orderly way in which a project is defined, according to the project management association, "the project almost ran itself", when in fact it is a very large collection of small projects, each of which is managed separately, when the whole is confederated. "Many genome centers are scattered all over the world, they all talk to each other, but none of them gives orders to the others and there is no single project manager. The genome project does not have one project manager, but there is a communication plan between the managers of sub-projects."
He outlined the timelines for mapping the genome: the beginning of the project was in 1990, then - during that decade, the genome was mapped, in 1997, the beginning of DNA "sequencing" began. The first draft of the genome was achieved in 2001, and the project reached almost complete completion - in 2003. He noted that the human genome project was planned to last 15 years and ended after about 13 years. "The project gradually gained momentum," said Lantz, "it's a project whose infrastructure was constantly developing. The first seven years were devoted mainly to creating an infrastructure and developing equipment and software. All this in order to reach a situation where in the second half of the project - he will be able to work more effectively."
Prof. Lentz explained that our body is a protein machine, long chains of molecules, while the genome is the one that gives the DNA instructions, for all the activities of the living cell. "The set of DNA, found in every cell - is called a genome. Each cell has project management, which means an order for the creation of proteins", he said, "the genome can be seen as a genetic encyclopedia, with 3 billion chemical 'letters'", he explained.
He noted that during the project, each team in the countries that contributed substantially to the reading ("sequencing") of the genome, received responsibility for deciphering a section from another chromosome, when the State of Israel had, at that stage, a mainly planning contribution. "The researchers around the world read the genome with the help of machines developed during the project. Those who wanted and were financially able to contribute more and decode more genome segments - raised funds and even set up hundreds of reading machines. This was the case in public genome centers in England and the USA, as well as in the American company Celera. The project was very planned at the local level - but very decentralized at the global level."
Referring to the Weizmann Institute, Lantz said that one of the Israeli achievements in the project was in the creation of a bridging facility between all the databases of the deciphered genes, databases that do not "talk" to each other. "We created GeneCards", he explained, "a digital encyclopedia of all the genes in a person. The profits that come from the sales of the mediation facility - are directed to the Weizman Institute and additional R&D in the field."
Shai Shargal, president of the Association for Project Management in Israel
Future
Prof. Lantz then described how diseases can be detected by detecting errors in the "text" of the DNA. According to him, most genetic diseases are rare, because the course of evolution, the mutations, means that the carriers of those diseases die young. He explained that now, the people of science and industry are getting a return on investment for the billions invested in the project - due to the early detection of diseases, as well as a higher ability to save lives. This is due to the mapping of genetic diseases at an early stage, their detection, and the development of drugs in the field. He concluded by noting that the future lies in moving to the next stage - reading the entire genome of hundreds and thousands of people, reducing the costs of reading the genome of one person by thousands of percent (from a billion dollars in the past, towards a goal, which has not yet been achieved, of 1,000 dollars in the future). "The genome has advantages in many fields, beyond medicine, such as in the agricultural world", concluded Lentz, "the future holds many surprises, including the integration of different systems".
The conference was opened by Shai Shargal, the president of the Association for Project Management in Israel, who greeted the participants, and noted that the Association for Project Management in Israel has come a very long way in recent years: "From a small organization with a handful of people, the association has become a dominant organization, with a significant presence in the economy, with a number Friends is growing and with the PMP certification program, which is at impressive growth rates." He reviewed the main achievements of the association, including the conversion of standards and procedures in managing projects from around the world, and bringing them to Israel. According to him, for five years in a row the largest PMI conferences outside of North America have been held in Israel.
One response
There will be no blessing from that. It's like an atomic bomb.
Although the project was carried out almost entirely democratically.
But its use will be made by those big companies that are only interested in the money, such as Umbrella Corporrtion
Admittedly, the example is really extreme and unrealistic.
But the reality can be much worse.