Rebirth 2002: Nano Life

In 1977, two papers in Science described the first method for determining the sequence of chemical bases in DNA fragments. And before those papers were published, molecular biologists had been able to line up the fragments.

Now, more than three decades later, DNA sequencing technology is advancing at an astonishing rate. Over the past decade, high-throughput sequencing technologies have enabled exponential growth in data generation. The application of the resulting vast amounts of data in basic biology has had a transformative impact, from archaeology and criminal investigations to prenatal diagnosis and cancer prognosis, DNA sequencing and data analysis have permeated multiple industries related to biology.

Since the introduction of second-generation sequencing technology in 2006, breakthroughs in sequencer technology have led to a rapid drop in sequencing costs, giving birth to the prosperity of the gene sequencing market. Internationally renowned investment consulting agency; Research data shows that the total global gene sequencing market last year was 1.294 billion US dollars.

In August last year, Cai Yinpei and Chen Yizhe jointly published a predictive article in the journal "Nature", titled "Future DNA Prediction", which outlined to readers a blueprint for genetic prediction in the next few decades.

Often, forecasters are wrong about those innovative technologies. In the early days of the Internet, few predicted that email would take the world by storm.

Likewise, neither Wall Street traders nor Silicon Valley investors could foresee that gaming, online video streaming and social media would dominate the online world over the next decade.

In the article "Future DNA Prediction", the first author is Cai Yinpei, while Chen Yizhe is more to supplement some avant-garde views, so this article predicts that the development of DNA prediction technology may not be much better.

In Chen Yizhe's words, "The future development trend predicted by DNA will no longer be driven by technology itself, but by application and market demand to determine its final development direction.

"Is it possible to predict what kind of person a newborn baby will be in the future, and what kind of personality he will have just by using the detector?" Lin Xiaolin asked curiously.

"Genetic testing can't predict a person's future, but it can calculate your fate!" Cai Yinpei said.

"Is prediction different from calculation?" Lin Xiaolin asked.

"Prediction is a result, and calculation may be an infinite number of data." Cai Yinpei said with a smile.

"It's like the weather forecast says it will rain. This is the prediction, and the prediction is just a result with the highest probability! But Lao Cai is strictly speaking. As you just said, genetic testing can indeed detect a newborn's future blueprint. It's just that , the human genome contains 3 billion base pairs."

Chen Yizhe paused and continued, "A whole genome test will generate more than 100 gigabytes of massive data, of which only protein-coding genes and a small number of non-protein-coding genes can be used for scientific research and clinical applications, accounting for the overall data. Among this part of the data, only 1% of the data have been thoroughly studied and can be applied after being associated with diseases. Human beings want to calculate the future of the next generation of human beings, the only way What we do is to thoroughly study the DNA data first!"

"I feel that your research is really great." Lin Xiaolin sighed.

"I don't deny this." Cai Yinpei nodded in agreement.

"Uh!" After Cai Yinpei said this, Lin Xiaolin suddenly didn't know what to say.

"Squad leader, maybe your understanding is a little different from mine. You may be looking at the DNA testing industry from all industries, but I only stand in the DNA testing industry."

"In the entire industry involving genetic testing, the upstream is the research and development of sequencing instrument consumables, which has been monopolized by companies such as Illumina in the United States in recent years; the midstream is the company that provides sequencing services and analysis; the downstream is to interpret the sequencing data report output for users, companies for clinical and scientific applications in hospitals.”

"At present, domestic gene sequencing companies are mostly distributed in the middle and lower reaches of the industry chain. It is understood that there are more than 20 companies in the gene database and analysis, nearly 40 companies are researching the correlation between genetic data and various diseases, more than 70 A company is targeting oncology-related fields. My current research is actually in the upstream stage of the industry, which is what I understand as high-level." Cai Yinpei explained with a smile.

At present, the application of the domestic gene sequencing market is mainly concentrated in cancer diagnosis, prenatal DNA detection and genetic disease detection. For example, prenatal DNA testing can use the genetic sequencing of the peripheral blood of pregnant women to understand the genetic status of the fetus, and diagnose whether the fetal chromosomes are abnormal and cause some clinical diseases.

"Is this the same as the semiconductor industry, which wants to change the life of modern gene sequencing?" Lin Xiaolin asked with a smile.

"It's not that exaggerated, but Xia Meng's consistent proposition is that once you enter a certain market, you must make this product well before you dare to enter this market. Xia Meng does not fight unprepared battles!" Chen Yizhe said.

Chinese gene sequencing companies have always been constrained by upstream suppliers of sequencing instruments. Due to the upstream equipment supply of the global gene sequencing industry, several US companies occupy the majority of the market share.

In the past, due to the lack of independent research and development capabilities of Chinese gene sequencing companies, the second-generation sequencing instruments used were mainly provided by American companies. The monopoly of sequencers makes service providers in the middle and lower reaches not only lose the independent pricing power of sequencing services, but also face supply threats.

Now, Xia Meng Group, which has quietly entered the genetic industry layout, is still unavoidably noticed by people in related industries. Especially when it was learned that Xia Meng's DNA tester was likely to enter the market at the end of 2010 and early 11 years, the domestic gene sequencing companies were so excited that they just beat gongs and drums to welcome the participation of Xia Meng Group.

The Xiameng Group is now involved in such a wide range of industries that some foreign media even call it "China's Samsung consortium", but if you really interpret it, you will know the difference between Xiameng and Samsung. Xia Meng generally only develops in the upper lane, providing equipment and technology for the middle and lower lanes, while Samsung occupies all the resources of the upper, middle and lower lanes.

It can be seen clearly that Xia Meng is a very nice teammate, and he is also a very nice teammate to domestic manufacturers!

"Now I'm looking forward to a certain day in the future." Lin Xiaolin suddenly said such a sentence.

Chen Yizhe and Cai Yinpei looked at Lin Xiaolin puzzled.

Lin Xiaolin explained with a smile, "At that time, I think that more than 90% of the diseases in the future will not be solved by the hospital, because before a person is born, one can genetically know what diseases are most likely to have in the future, how to prevent them, and what signs will appear. Timely early warning, the treatment also knows which drugs are more effective and which ones are not, and everything will be individualized and precise.”

After listening to Lin Xiaolin's words, Cai Yinpei gave a thumbs up, "The monitor is worthy of being a scholar, and he is transparent! In fact, from the perspective of commercial value, genetic technology is a subversion of traditional medicine. For example, the treatment of cancer. In the past Many patients will relapse after a period of time after the tumor is removed, and will relapse in different parts, or even turn into other cancers. But under the positioning of "precision medicine" of gene sequencing, it can have preventive and predictive effects."

When Cai Yinpei said the latter, his tone became lower and lower.

Because for him, his body is not just a matter of cancer recurrence. After several years of research, he actually found that his body's DNA was already in a state of collapse, which is why cancer frequently occurs.

He kept saying this to Chen Yizhe, "Maybe this is a program set by God. At a certain time, I have to say goodbye to this world."

And Chen Yizhe comforted him like this, "Old Cai, believe me, sooner or later, we will become 'God' too!"

In fact, Chen Yizhe thought at first that he only needed to kill the cancer cells and restore the tumor suppressor gene tp53 to normal, so that Cai Yinpei could fully recover.

TP53 is one of the earliest discovered tumor suppressor genes and plays a very important role in suppressing tumor cell growth, DNA repair, and programmed cell death. Hence the p53 protein is called the guardian of the genome. Usually more than 50% of cancer patients have mutations in the p53 gene.

But later, he realized that things were really not that simple. Hearing Cai Yinpei's deep voice, Chen Yizhe patted him on the shoulder.

"The real scholar is opposite me, I have to be humble!" Lin Xiaoxiao, who was unaware, looked at Chen Yizhe.

"I've only been a schoolmaster for half a semester, and it's still a mid-term exam!" Chen Yizhe complained. In fact, he didn't expect Lin Xiaolin to say such a thing. Because of such predictive words, he also told Xu about it. Yong said.

In Chen Yizhe's view, with the development of science and technology, hospitals will definitely decline, or even disappear.

With the rapid advancement of medical device intervention technology, sensors can detect every cell in your body, and based on the test results, a rehabilitation plan can be tailored for you.

At the same time, with the maturity of genetic testing, in addition to accurately measuring the cause of disease and the potential probability of an individual, it can also customize personalized medicine and treatment plans.

Gene prediction and repair provide new solutions for "incurable diseases" such as genetic diseases and cancer; CRISPR gene modification technology can "delete" aging genes in the body, extending lifespan by 40 to 50 years; by reprogramming cells~www. wuxiahere.com~ can also extend human lifespan by one-third. Presumably after several decades of development, it is not a novelty for the average person to live to the age of 120.

Chen Yizhe went on to talk eloquently, "In fact, the future of gene sequencing has infinite development possibilities. For example, in the next few decades, I think most of the data stored in the hard disk or cloud in the world can be stored in DNA by then. , and DNA sequencing is no longer just decoding diseases, but reading information. Imagine if one day the human brain is no longer used to store memory, but purely for computing, and the carrier of memory is DNA, It may be intriguing to think that human beings have become the same as today's computer hardware..."

"I know now why you didn't care about dropping out at that time. Maybe people like you staying on campus are actually the biggest restraint for you!" Lin Xiaolin looked at Chen Yizhe, bit his lip and said softly.

Hearing Lin Xiaolin's praise, Chen Yizhe laughed "haha", "Squad leader, do you know what is the biggest constraint on me now?"

"What is it?"

"It's the earth under our feet, it's gravity! My journey has actually been aimed at the vast starry sky!" Chen Yizhe seemed to be joking.