Lander sees life sciences revolution

Eric Lander, one of the world's leading scientists on the forefront of genome research, kicked off the BioITWorld conference in Boston on Wednesday with an overview of the dramatic progress made in biology in the past few years as a result of the sequencing of the human genome, and how this new information is being applied to investigate and fight diseases.

In his keynote speech, Lander also highlighted the importance of computer scientists working hand-in-glove with life scientists.

"The promise of genomics depends on bio-IT," said the founder and director of the Whitehead Institute Center for Genome Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "This depends tremendously on information sciences marrying with life sciences."

Lander's enthusiasm for what he called a "remarkable revolution going on in life sciences" was palpable, as he took a packed amphitheatre at Boston's World Trade Center through a quick history of genetic research from Gregor Mendel to the current day. Over the last 20 or 30 years, he said, he has watched biology transform from a lab-based to an information-based science.

"Genomic information is now driving a revolution in biomedicine," Lander said. The sequencing of the human genome "left us with the keys to the most remarkable library on this planet. ... We're just kindergarteners reading this information."

The work of the next generation of life scientists will be to squeeze out information from these texts, he added.

By studying the genetic variations between humans - which are very slight, compared to other species, Lander said - scientists are identifying specific genes responsible for diseases such as various cancers, asthma and diabetes.

He pointed to two cases in which already existing drugs proved to combat the effects of the gene found to be responsible for a specific cancer. Pharmaceutical firms, he joked, should go ahead and develop drugs before they know they're needed.

Lander emphasised that the fruits of the work on the Human Genome Project should be freely and immediately available to all. In fact, he said, one can now download and browse the human genome sequence over the web, and even upload annotations.

However, there is a severe shortage of people who currently have the skills to read the "book" of the human genome and use that information, Lander said. "There is so much opportunity, and so much need," he said, estimating that the field needs as many as 50 times as many people as are currently working in it.

After his address, Lander said that more than just a few new academic programs in bioinformatics were needed to train the number of people required.

"The mismatch is so huge that no one department will be enough to fill the gap," he said. What's called for is a collaboration between industry, government and the universities at the same level as the Human Genome Project in order to produce enough people who can "read the book."

"It seems to me there are good biologists in the field," said delegate Aaron Owens, research fellow at Dupont Central Research & Development in Wilmington, Delaware. "What they need are collaborators [in computer science]."

Owens said that he saw academic programs popping up in bioinformatics, and that in his opinion a bioinformatics degree would be equivalent to an MBA as the next "hot" credential.