The funding will enable the first phases of establishing Alberta as a leader in post-genomics or proteomics research. It is expected that the ANPI initiative will lead to the hiring of an additional 45 research faculty within Alberta over the next five years. The genetic code contains the information that orchestrates the life, death and characteristics of all living organisms. The entire genetic code for an organism is called the genome. The genome is comprised of thousands of genes.
Genes specify individual traits.
The human genome consists of approximately 100,000 genes. Identification and characterization of the genes is called genomics. The next challenge will be to learn how to read the blueprints so scientists can correlate genes with function. Most genes contain the information for the production of proteins, which determine how cells and organisms function. Virtually every property of the organism is dependent upon protein function.