Describe how the field of genomics has developed over the past 50 years.

Answer 1

The field has exploded within the past half century. This began with the discovery of the double helix by Francis Crick and Jim Watson (with help from Rosalin Franklin). From the structural basis of heredity we began to learn how to create recombinant DNA molecules. In the old days, animals had to be killed to get insulin. Now we can clone the gene for insulin into yeast or bacteria. From there PCR was developed which allowed us to amplify regions of the genome for study, and streamlined DNA cloning. We are now able to test for genes that may cause disease, and most recently of all with CRISPR we now have the capability of editing out a gene which causes disease. And the possibilities are expanding as I speak.