Next Steps for Functional Genomics

Download or read book Next Steps for Functional Genomics written by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2020-11-18 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the holy grails in biology is the ability to predict functional characteristics from an organism's genetic sequence. Despite decades of research since the first sequencing of an organism in 1995, scientists still do not understand exactly how the information in genes is converted into an organism's phenotype, its physical characteristics. Functional genomics attempts to make use of the vast wealth of data from "-omics" screens and projects to describe gene and protein functions and interactions. A February 2020 workshop was held to determine research needs to advance the field of functional genomics over the next 10-20 years. Speakers and participants discussed goals, strategies, and technical needs to allow functional genomics to contribute to the advancement of basic knowledge and its applications that would benefit society. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.