Dear Log,
«The first genetic disease to be fully defined in molecular terms was sickle cell disease, the abnormality of the haemoglobin in human red blood cells which causes such devastation in African-origin communities. A single abnormality in a single protein causes the trouble. The abnormal protein was identified in the 1940s, the precise molecular defect was identified in the 1950s, and the three-dimensional structure of the protein was defined in the 1960s. Yet what has been the clinical impact of this wonderfully precise molecular knowledge? Precisely nothing. The clinical picture of the disease cannot yet be understood in terms of the molecular biology.[...]The idea that genomics is going to make a major contribution to human health in the near future is laughable.[...]»
--"Not in the genes": Enthusiasts for genomics have corrupted scientific endeavour and undermined hopes of medical progress
