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O! Omics....
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Omics has become the new mantra in molecular research. With the publication of the complete Arabidopsis genome in 2000 and the human genome in 2001 the beginning of the new millennium was rightfully dubbed the genomic era. However, realizing that genomic data alone do not equal information the huge amount of data from these and several other genome projects called for an immediate need to extract useful information from it.
Read more about the new omics technologies.
We have asked the President of SPPS, Jan K. Schjørring, five questions about his experiences and impressions on omics technologies.
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Professor Jan K. Schjørring, President of SPPS, his experiences and impressions on omics technologies. Photo courtesy of SPPS.
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1. Omics requires expertise and expensive equipment - is it worth the investment?
Of course - it is the only way to obtain the holistic data that are required for understanding the complex processes in living organisms.
2. Will omics drain resources from other important research areas?
Not necessarily - omics is an essential tool in systems biology and thus important also for research in e.g. plant-environment interactions, crop physiology and plant breeding.
3. Should omics ideally be performed in national/regional centres, or should every institution have their own facilities?
To ensure method development, flexibility and timely processing every institution should have dedicated new technologies provided these can be placed in active research environments where they constitute an integrated part of front-line research projects. When the tasks become more routine based, like e.g. high-throughput genome sequencing or micro-array transcriptome analysis they can be centralized/commercialized.
4. Will proteomics and metabolomics eventually be as simple and successful as transcriptomics?
Metabolomics definitely (lab-on chip) but proteomics may be more difficult due to a large number of protein modifications.
5. What kinds of omics do you use for your research?
Primarily metabolomics. Actually, we are partners in a new EU project, started October 2006. It is called META-PHOR (Metabolomics for Plants, Health and OutReach) and deals with metabolic profiling of vegetable food sources.
Read more about the omics technologies and the META-PHOR project.
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O! Omics....
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1. Omics requires expertise and expensive equipment - is it worth the investment?
Of course - it is the only way to obtain the holistic data that are required for understanding the complex processes in living organisms.
Read more....
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What eventually happened to GMOs?
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1. The new EU directive allows for marketing of GMO foods, but are EU consumers willing to buy them?
Yes, if the products become sufficiently attractive. This is also indicated by a recent survey made by Epinion in Denmark showing that almost every second person between 18 and 30 years of age will accept to eat GMO food like maize or rice. For persons aged above 30, only every fourth would be prepared to buy GMO foods.
Read more....
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