Why Choose Genetics?
Genetics as an evolving field of science.
Ever since the rediscovery of Mendel’s principles early in the 20th Century, advances in the field of genetics have provided fuel for progress in the biomedical sciences and agriculture. Genetic technologies have also advanced our understanding of evolution and made us aware of the importance of genetic diversity to the survival of the species, including our own. Barely thirty years ago, procedures were developed that could be used to clone, sequence, mutate, express and even synthesize genes in test tubes and move them from one organism to another. At that time, recombinant DNA technology offered great promise, but it was also seen as a threat to the natural world. Debates among scientists and within communities established guidelines for recombinant DNA and transgenic technologies, which have helped those methodologies develop as safe and reliable procedures. These technologies are now taken for granted and used routinely for the production of life-saving drugs, such as human insulin, blood-clotting factors, growth hormone and vaccines, hundreds of metric tonnes of industrial enzymes, such as rennin for the production of cheese, by bacteria and fungi in fermentors, the creation of transgenic animals and plants for research into the nature of genetic diseases and enhanced food production.
In recent years, advances in the field of genetics have exploded to the point where it became necessary to coin a new term: genomics. Many of the technologies developed for the massive genome sequencing projects have also enabled advances in genetic counseling, gene therapy, and genetic engineering of transgenic plants and animals. The ability to discriminate genotypes and individuals using DNA markers has had a huge impact on forensics, paternity testing, and diagnosis of genetic disease. As a sub-discipline of genetics, genomics not only is concerned with the sequencing and analysis of entire genomes, but also has extended to the development of new concepts and techniques that can be applied to observe changes in the expression and activity of all the genes in individual cells and entire organisms. The many complex genetic processes that now can be elucidated through genomic techniques include the activation and inactivation of the expression of large sets of genes during processes such as tissue and organ development, the conversion of normal cells into tumor cells, the response of cells to viral and bacterial infections or treatments with therapeutic and non-therapeutic drugs, and the exposure of cells and organisms to natural environmental agents as well as man-made pollutants.
Genetics as a Career Choice.
The exponentially increasing pace of new developments in the field and the enormity of their scientific, economic, environmental and social impact has created a high demand by industry in the biomedical sector, academia, and governmental and private organizations for young scientists with expertise in human, animal, plant, microbial, medical, population and environmental genetics. The degree-granting, interdepartmental Genetics Program at Michigan State University is ideally situated to provide graduate training that can address these growing needs. Because of its extraordinary size and the breadth in expertise of its faculty, the MSU Genetics Program exposes students to a broad range of genetics research, while allowing each student to focus on a particular topic for his or her doctoral research.