Even more remarkable is the fact that all humans are similar. That means that only one chemical letter in a thousand is different in the genome of, say Tie Domi and Albert Einstein. Makes you want to treat Tie with a little more respect, he added. Now that we have the human genome mapped out and know their location along our DNA, we still don't know how the genes function or interact, Friesen said. But it's the proteins and not the info-providing genes themselves that are the real workhorses in the molecular process.
Proteins are responsible for every chemical reaction essential to life.
Friesen explained that the surfaces of proteins are covered with bumps and grooves, sort of like popcorn. Perfectly formed to receive molecules, just as a lock receives a key, he noted that it's possible to design drugs that will fit into their grooves and either activate them or prevent them from being activated. That's how genomics will impact our health. Eventually, scientists will be able to target drugs so specifically that side effects may be a thing of the past. Genomics will change medicine so much we won't recognize it.