SYMPOSIUM ON HUMAN GENOME PROJECT in 2000

Dravida Peravai sets new trend

Symposium on Human Genome Project

To hold a symposium on Human Genome project is not in the agendas of action pursued by political parties. On 15.12.2000 in its party auditorium Dravida Peravai invited Dr.Pandjassarame Kangueane of the National University of Singapore to deliver a lecture on this subject.

To know about the scientific achievement we are reproducing from THE TIMES OF INDIA report:

Human Genome mapping Complete: Experts

Bethesda( Maryland): The human genome is complete and the human genome project is over, leaders of public consortium of academic centers said on Monday. "We have before us the instruction set that carries each of us from one cell egg through adulthood to grave" Dr.Robert Waterson, a leading genome sequencer said at a news conference here at the National Institute of Health. Their announcement marked the end of a scientific venture that began in October 1990 and was expected to take 15 years. Monday's finishing date two years ahead of schedule, was timed to coincide with the 50 th anniversary of the discovery of the structure of DNA by Dr.James D.Watson and Dr.Francis Crick. Their article appeared in the April 25, 1953 issue of "Nature".

Dr.Watson who became the first Director of the Human Genome project at the institute was at a conference here on Monday to celebrate the genome's completion. He had sought that goal, he said realizing that a family members illness would never be treatable "until we understand the human programme for health and disease. A working draft of the human genome sequence was announced with much fanfare 3 years ago in a White House ceremony. But at that stage the human genome project had completed only 85 percent of the genome and its commercial rival the Celera Corporation using the projects data as well as its own, had attained somewhat more. The project's draft was not a thing of beauty. It consisted thousands of short segments of DNA, whose order and orientation in the full genome was largely unknown. Three years later, the international consortium of genome sequencing centers has now put all the fragments in order and closed most of the gaps, producing an extensive and highly accurate sequence of the 3.1 billion u units of DNA of the human genome. The data perceived as the foundation of a new era of medicine, will be posted for free on genetic data banks. Celera whose data was available by subscription never intended to carry its draft genome to completion.

The working draft of three years ago contained most human genes and was useful for researchers seeking a specific gene. But up to a year ago biologists said they often had to do considerable extra sequencing work on the DNA regions they were interested in. The completed genome announced on Monday is far more accurate. It can be used out of the box, so to speak, without extra re-sequencing. The genes and other important elements of the genome are now almost in their correct position, a vital requirement for researchers seeking to locate a gene that contributes to disease. Scientists praised the  human genome project for its further 3 years of hard work and for producing a resource of enormous value to research. But several qualified their administration by noting that even if the project is complete, the human genome is not. The parts of the genome still missing are of minor importance, but many biologists would like to see them sequenced before declaring the genome finished. The human genome is packed in 23 pairs of chromosomes, each a giant molecule of DNA. Though DNA's best known role is to encode the information needed to build specific proteins, the working parts of the living cell, some of the DNA performs structured roles. This included the DNA at the tips of each chromosome/0 and at the center. The tip and center DNA consists of monotonously repeated sequences whose extract order of units is so hard to determine that the consortium's leaders said from the outset they would not try to do so. .... [news report by: Nicholas Wade in 2003]

On this issue even in 2000 itself Dravida Peravai, the only political party in India which showed interest in developing scientific temper, organized a symposium. The invitation of the symposium is as follows:

FUTURE MEDICINE INFLUENCED BY HUMAN GENOME PROJECT AND COMPUTATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS: SYMPOSIUM

Venue: Anna Arangam- Date:15.12.2000--Welcome Address: Ms.Hemavathy [Vice president Science Forum ] President: N.Nandhivarman [ General Secretary Dravida Peravai ] in the august presence of Dr.S.V.Narayanan  Dean of School of Management, Pondicherry University 

Keynote Address in Tamil

by young scientist of Singapore and son of Pondicherry's soil

Dr.Pandjassarame Kangueane B.Tech. Ph.D

" The future is full of promise as it is fraught with uncertainty. The industrial society is giving way to one based on knowledge and those without it. We must learn and be part of the knowledge based world. Knowledge is fundamental in Biology, a discipline of extreme complexity. The Human Genome Project and computational developments will change the practice of medicine in future. in his key note address, the young scientist of our soil will outline how HLA (gene) INFORMATICS can be utilized in vaccine design, diagnosis and treatment" All from all walks of life are cordially invited, said the invitation. Dr.Arima Magizhgo delivered the vote of thanks.