Biomedical, Biopharma and Clinical Research

Genetics

Genetics is that the scientific study of genes and heredity—of how certain qualities or traits are passed from parents to offspring as a result of changes in DNA sequence. A gene may be a segment of DNA that contains instructions for building one or more molecules that help the body work. DNA is formed like a corkscrew-twisted ladder called a helix. The 2 ladder rails are called backbones and therefore the rungs are pairs of four building blocks (adenine, thymine, guanine, and cytosine) called bases. The sequences of those bases provide the instructions for building molecules, most of which are proteins. Researchers estimate that humans have about 20,000 genes.

All of an organism’s genetic material, including its genes and other elements that control the activity of these genes, is its genome. An organism’s entire genome is found in nearly all of its cells. In human, plant, and animal cells, the genome is housed during a structure called the nucleus.