Futures in Biotech

Drs. Paabo and Jarvie talk about the Neanderthal Genome Sequencing Project...

Guests: Dr. Svente Paabo, Director of the Department of Genetics at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Dr. Thomas Jarvie, Technical Application Manage at 454 Life Sciences

In this episode, Dr. Svante Paabo explains how he isolates the ancient DNA of Neanderthals from museum specimens. He is leading the team that is using this material to sequence the entire Neanderthal genome, which should take just over two years. By comparing our genome to that of the Neanderthals, great light will be shed on what it means to be human.

Here is where it gets interesting: If you remember in episode 8, we spoke with Dr. Drew Endy (MIT) about how synthetic biology will allow us to synthesize the human genome from using machines within ten years. This means that we could theoretically see the RETURN OF THE NEANDERTHAL in a decade, not that anyone intends on bringing back the Neanderthal ;)

I chatted with Dr. Endy yesterday to ask him about the likelihood of this, and he added that it would probably cost too much in ten years time, but would be very cheap in twenty...

Links:
About the project
The sequencing technology used

And also thanks to the Band Gunther from Cyclone Records for the permission to use their song Wrecking Ball as a theme for this episode of FiB!

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