Genetics And The Future of Healthcare

By Parker Sewell

“Ninety-nine per cent of people don’t have an inkling about how fast this revolution is coming.” — Steve Fodor, president of Affymetrix”

Originally published on April 25, 2016.

I like trying to be healthy. If you know me well, you already know my morning routine. I wake up early, make avocado toast and a green smoothie with spinach and kale (don’t knock it ‘till you try it!), read the news, and then I finally start to get ready — but not before I work out some. I also like data. I like having data on everything from the weather (I live in Austin, so most likely it’s hot), to — you guessed it — my health. This is why I decided to purchase genetics testing from 23AndMe. I received reports on traits, wellness, ancestry, and more. I did not discover anything too shocking, but that’s probably a good thing. Companies like 23AndMe are laying the groundwork for a new era in healthcare. Some of the innovations we may see in our lifetime include genetic engineering, personalized medication, and better preventative care.

According to Matt Ridley, author of Genome: The Autobiography of Our Species In 23 Chapters, one day, when you’re born with a bad version of a gene — think of it like a bad mechanical component — a genetic engineer will be able to extract what’s deficient and replace it with a corrected version of the gene that will prevent you from getting, say, colon cancer. This simple idea of “patching up” DNA has the potential to treat and prevent disease in a way that is unlike anything humanity has ever seen.

Last spring, Mark Cuban visited my university for a Q&A session. He stressed the importance of multidisciplinary studies and how more students should major in biology. He used this point to segue into what he thinks will be revolutionary: personalized medication. I’m paraphrasing, but he said something like, “One day we will receive our medication at the door. It won’t have any adverse side effects because it will be tailor-made to us. It will be based on an individual’s DNA. It will make going to the pharmacy for prescriptions look barbaric!” A colleague of mine is majoring in management information systems with a minor in biology. He is interested in bioinformatics, or a combination of computer science and genetics. It focuses heavily on the interpretation of genetic data. The success of personalized medication depends on our ability to affordably test DNA and interpret the results. It also depends on people like my colleague who understand biology as much as they understand computer science and statistics.

“The success of personalized medication depends on people who understand biology as much as they understand computer science and statistics.”