“Mapping the human genome” is perhaps the most publicized scientific endeavor of the past decade. Scientists are unlocking the secrets of life’s molecular make-up through an exhaustive analysis of the human hereditary (genetic) code, or DNA, on which all biological life is founded. Discoveries resulting from genome research are truly revolutionary, yielding wondrous improvements in many areas of health care, medicine and agriculture. A little farther out, experiments in genomic engineering are also reaching into touchy areas of scientific endeavor which test basic questions about the very nature of life, creating thorny regulatory issues for governments and deep ethical issues for everyone.

While not all aspects of DNA research are as controversial as cloning, biotech studies are heating up academic curricula in colleges and universities around the world. Coastal’s College of Natural and Applied Sciences, which is widely respected particularly for its work in marine geology and environmental chemistry, is stepping up its involvement in bioscience.

Val Dunham, dean of the College of Natural and Applied Sciences and interim provost.

It’s a move which Val Dunham, dean of the College of Natural and Applied Sciences and interim provost, is naturally inclined to lead. Before he was a dean (“back when I was a practicing scientist,” he says wistfully), Dunham was involved in gene research and started a degree program in recombinant gene technology at Western Kentucky University, where he was chairman of the biology department before he moved to Coastal in 1995.

DNA-related computer studies at Coastal will be led by Jean-Louis Lassez, a French-born scientist with extensive experience and a considerable record of achievement in the computational aspects of genome research. Lassez, who arrived at Coastal in January 2002 as a professor of computer science after serving as senior scientist at the IBM Research Center and at Integrated Genomics, says that his work depends on access to a powerful supercomputer.

“Look at it this way,” says Lassez. “We are trying to find specific information in DNA, buried in approximately defined substrings within sequences made up of several billions of letters, and because of mutations, this data is affected by more or less random additions, deletions or replacements. That’s an enormous amount of data, very costly to store and impossibly time-consuming without a system designed to handle big problems.” Lassez’s method for hunting down and isolating these specific “letters” is the algorithm – math-intensive problem-solving through a series of repetitious, step-by-step procedures.

Lassez’s research is largely concerned with improving the classification techniques used to select and separate those regions of the gene which contain pertinent information (the part that determines eye color, for instance) from those which don’t (which scientists call “the junk part”).

It’s all part of a branch of science called bioinformatics. This relatively new science is a hybrid combining three academic areas – biology, mathematics/statistics and computer science – to form a new discipline devoted to computing and analyzing complex problems derived from the vast amount of mathematical data generated through DNA research. Coastal is proposing a degree program in bioinformatics for implementation within the next three years.

Jean-Louis Lassez, professor of computer science

Lassez, who was educated at the Université de Paris and Purdue University, says that one reason he was attracted to Coastal was “its declared interest in human genome study at the undergraduate level. Many universities offer graduate programs but not many undergraduate programs exist. Coastal seems determined to take the lead in many areas of undergraduate research, which is exciting and extremely beneficial to students who are seriously interested in life careers in this area of study.” At this writing, Brown University – where Lassez was once a faculty member – is the only American institution offering an undergraduate degree in bioinformatics.

Discoveries resulting from genetics research, according to Lassez, will impact the world of the 21st century just as decisively as the atomic bomb dominated the 20th century. “The genomic venture is going to have even more impact than nuclear energy in terms of its possibilities for doing good – and in its inherent dangers. We have already seen fantastic advances in new medicines, in the treatment of diseases and in agriculture.”

As to the more sinister offshoots of genomic research, Lassez believes the answer lies in more and better education – which is where programs like Coastal’s can help make a difference. “The negative potentials of this research are much more frightening than the prospect of being wiped out by atomic bombs. Biology is the science of life, and we now have the tools which allow us to manipulate life at the molecular level. We can fight viruses and we can create them. It is like playing God. The wrong people can play games with life. But there is no turning back. The question is how do we control the work that is being done. It is essential that good people stay ahead of the game – several steps ahead – at the scientific level.”

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