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Approaching the inauguration of the Life Sciences Research Center |
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President, Gifu University
Toshio Kuroki |
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Approaching the inauguration of the Life Sciences Research Center
This year, 2003, should be celebrated as the 50th anniversary of the publication of Watson and Crick's article on the double-helix structure of DNA in the 1953 April 25th edition of the journal Nature. In that brief single-page article of only 900 words, they were able to elegantly prove that DNA is the genetic material of life. More specifically, the double-helix model explained how during genetic replication, an exact complementary copy is produced by each of the double strands. As a result, the basic mechanism of genetic transmission from parent to child was revealed.
Thanks to this beautiful double-helix structure, the dawn of the age of molecular biology is upon us. In the early 1970's, twenty years after the publication of Watson and Crick's article, recombinant DNA technology emerged, and we became able to isolate and utilize individual genes. In 2002, 48 years after the article's publication, the first draft of the sequence of the human genome was published. By April of this year, almost 50 years since Watson and Crick's article was published, 99% of the human genome had been sequenced, with 32,615 genes identified. In a mere 50 years, as many as 30 billion base pairs have all been mapped and entered into a computer so that anyone can access the data. This is nothing short of an amazing scientific advancement.
It is in the year of this significant anniversary that Gifu University has decided to reorganize its 5 life sciences and chemistry department research facilities into one Life Sciences Research Center. Life sciences is an important educational pillar for Gifu University. We have made great strides in improving our life sciences departments, and we will continue on this path of enrichment. For example, in 2001 we established the first national department for Regenerative Medical Sciences within our Graduate School of Medicine. Currently, we have plans to reorganize our agriculture department, increasing the number of veterinary science classes from 9 to 14. The biotechnology engineering department was already established in 1997. We expect the Life Sciences Research Center to be a supporting pillar of bioscience research in the post-genome era. |
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| Important Milestones in Genomic Research |
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| 1865 |
Mendel（Austria）discovers the laws of inheritance |
| 1953 |
Watson (America) and Crick (England) reveal DNA's double-helix structure |
| 1981 |
Initiation of the Wada Project for the automation of DNA sequencing |
| 1986 |
Plans proposed for the Human Genome Project; the American Department of Energy begins research |
| 1989 |
Establishment of the International Human Genome Organization（HUGO） |
| 1991 |
Japan, American and Europe begin plans for the Human Genome Project |
| 1996 |
International consortium created (decision to disclose sequencing) |
| 1998 |
An American company and Hitachi develop a new DNA sequence analyzer |
| 2000 |
The international consortium and Celera Corp. both decode their own rough map of various genetic sequences |
| 2001 |
The results of these genetic sequence maps are published in British and American scientific journals |
| 2003 |
The international consortium completes the decoding of the human genome |
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| 2003.4.1 |
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Messages |
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