Quote

We have 100 genes or so, which we know we can't knock out without killing the cell, that are of unknown structure.

Before the Human Genome Project, most scientists assumed, based on our complex brains and behaviors, that humans must have around 100,000 genes; some estimates went as high as 150,000.

Biology will relate every human gene to the genes of other animals and bacteria, to this great chain of being.

We have 26,000 genes. But a blind, millimetre-long roundworm with only 959 cells in total already has over 19,000.

Every cell in your body contains the same genetic information.

We need 10,000 genomes, not 100, to start to understand the link between genetics, disease and wellness.

The genome was once thought to be just the blueprint for a living organism, like a combination of the architect's plan for a building and the builder's list of supplies. It specified the parts, the building blocks, and, somehow, the design of the whole, the way in which they are to be put together.

Synthetic biology can help address key challenges facing the planet and its population. Research in synthetic biology may lead to new things such as programmed cells that self-assemble at the sites of disease to repair damage.

One of the central mysteries of biology is why the genome is largely identical from cell to cell, even though cells do different things.

Once the principle is there, that cells have the same genes, my own personal belief is that we will, in the end, understand everything about how cells actually work.