My DNA, My Genome, My Life
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My DNA, My Genome, My Life
28.02.2011
The human genome is of a sequence of 3,000,000,000 DNA base pairs and carries the full blueprint for human life. The cost of human genome sequencing has plummeted from over a billion euro in 2001 to €10000 in 2010 and will cost less than a summer holiday by 2015. By 2015, visiting your doctor with your genome on your mobile phone is likely to be common place. As your genome contains key information about your future health, your character and other traits, discussing genomes will become a regular topic of conversation in households across the globe.

In the next lecture of the Annual College of Science, Engineering and Food Science (SEFS) Public Lecture Series at UCC on March 2nd 2011, Professor Tommie McCarthy will present a layman’s guide to the human genome and the pros and cons of having your genome sequenced will be explored.

Tommie McCarthy is an associate professor in Biochemistry at UCC. Over the past 25 years, Professor McCarthy and his team have made major contributions to human molecular genetics, particularly human genetic disease, human genome mapping and DNA analysis. After graduating with a BSc honours in microbiology from NUIG, Prof. McCarthy completed a PhD on DNA repair mechanisms at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund in London. He then moved to the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, USA as an EMBO fellow and pursued research on DNA rearrangement mechanisms in antibody formation.

The lecture will be delivered on Wednesday, March 2nd 2011 at 8pm in Boole II Lecture Theatre. The lecture series is organised by Professor William Reville, Public Awareness of Science Officer, SEFS.

Full details of the lectures can be consulted by visiting website http://understandingscience.ucc.ie/Lecture2011.pdf

Admission is free, and as always, members of the public are invited to attend.

Picture:  Professor Tommie McCarthy



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