Craig Venter discusses life after the Human Genome Project. Interviewed by Rebecca Lawrence

Navigating a world of genes: A conceptual analysis of gene fetishism, geneticization, genetic exceptionalism and genetic essentialism

Genetics, as a discipline, is an essential part of the modern world. However, analyzing the interaction between genetics and society can be complex. Therefore, terminology has arisen from diverse fields to better understand genetics and its relation to other domains. Nevertheless, the diverse origins of many of these terms, as well as a lack of clarity in their definitions, have led to differences in use. This paper focuses on four such terms: genetic fetishism, geneticization, genetic essentialism, and genetic exceptionalism. By clarifying what each term means, the fields that utilize them will be helped. Furthermore, these terms can have specific value to bioethics in analyzing ethical issues that arise from genetics and the interaction with the socio-cultural world. While these terms may not always be applicable, a more careful analysis of their meaning can cultivate a more scientific and rigorous analysis of the ways genetics impacts and is understood by humanity.

Industrial-scale, genomics-based drug design and discovery

The demands on drug discovery organizations have increased dramatically in recent years, partly because of the need to identify novel targets that are both relevant to disease and chemically tractable. This is leading to an industrial approach to traditional biology and chemistry, inspired in part by the revolution in genomics. The purpose of this article is to highlight the flow of investigation from gene sequence of potential therapeutic targets, through mRNA and protein expression, to protein structure and drug design. To deal with this scale of activity, many commercial and public organizations have been established and some of the key players will be listed in this article.