Jun Wang has been investigating the secrets behind genomes for almost three decades. It started off with beetles and digital copies – he tried to recreate lady beetles into digital form and make them act as regular, living lady beetles by programming them – the same way all living things are programmed by their genomes to act a certain way.
For instance, people living in Tibet have a genome that specifically allows them to live at higher altitudes. Genomes are the transcription of history, built into us all. They are a record of all the adaptations we have made to survive, and all the things we still do in order to maintain survival.
But now Jun Wang wants to use this information to predict and prevent illnesses. By using the information inside the human genome, and creating a digital copy of ourselves (like those beetles), we can see ourselves as statistics. We can use this sort of map to find out what we are prone to, what our bodies like and do not like, what diseases may lie in our future, and what we can do to stop it. Each person is different – even twins can have very different medical futures. But with the help of Jun Wang and his genome research, we will hopefully have an affordable way soon view ourselves and prevent serious illnesses.
Key Points:
- 1Genome research may hold answers to many health questions.
- 2What if you could know exactly how food or medication would impact your health — before you put it in your body.
- 3This study looked at food intake, sleep habits and data collected by a “smart toilet.
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