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Challenges for neuroscience in a post-genome world

Nature Neuroscience volume 4, pages 1153–1154 (2001)Cite this article

The term 'post-genome' is increasingly being used in rallying calls to the research community to redouble efforts in understanding gene function and regulation in a world where the human genome sequence will soon be known in its entirety. In part, such appeals and their new jargon are aimed at moderating governmental and public expectations about the immediate medical impact of the human genome project on the development of new medicines. Although the value of the human genome sequence is inestimable—it is transforming basic and clinical research in ways that we are only beginning to see—new therapies for enduring human conditions will emerge only indirectly and over time.

This renewed emphasis on gene function and regulation also represents a legitimate call to elevate the level of rigor and relevance with which biological and medical issues are approached experimentally. Limitations in current biological models and measurement techniques are becoming increasingly apparent as the lead taken by genomics and its allied technologies over other fields continues to increase. Nowhere in the biological sciences is this new emphasis more important than in the neurosciences, as the inherent complexity, heterogeneity and interconnectivity of the brain have long resisted the penetration of modern experimental investigation.

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  1. Cogent Neuroscience, Inc., 4321 Medical Park Drive, Durham, 27704, NC

    Donald C. Lo

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  1. Donald C. Lo
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Lo, D. Challenges for neuroscience in a post-genome world. Nat Neurosci 4 (Suppl 11), 1153–1154 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1101-1153

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