Inside Duke Medicine
Goldstein profiled in The New York Times
posted September 16th, 2008When the Human Genome was finally sequenced in 2003, many researchers believed it would open the door to identifying the genetic roots of disease. However, that belief has yet to pan out.
In a recent profile in The New York Times, David Goldstein, professor of molecular genetics and director of the Institute for Genome Science and Policy’s Center for Population Genomics and Pharmacogenetics, said “It’s an astounding thing,” that we have cracked open the human genome and can look at the entire complement of common genetic variants, and what do we find? Almost nothing. That is absolutely beyond belief.”
Goldstein represents one of a new group of genetic scientists who are questioning the role of common genes in many diseases. Instead, he attributes conditions such as schizophrenia and Type 2 diabetes to more rare genetic variants.
The July issue of Inside featured an excerpt of an interview with Dr. Goldstein, where he describes his book, “Jacob’s Legacy”, which details his research into identifying the genetic linkages between modern Jewish people. See the video here.