Fifteen
years and two months ago, humanity knew where it stood in the macrocosm of
life. An issue of the journal Nature,
published in February 2001, carried a scientific paper describing the
near-complete sequence of letters making up the DNA, or the genetic material of
modern humans. This sequencing of the human “genome” by an international
consortium of scientists was the culmination of fifteen years of political,
legal, ethical and scientific intrigue, cost us more than a bill
leads a laboratory researching bacterial behaviour at the National
Centre for Biological Sciences, Bangalore. His work is funded by agencies of
the government of India. He has a PhD in bioinformatics from the University of
Cambridge. He is an amateur Carnatic music singer.
