Abstract

Recently we requested the comments from 10 skin care experts for their opinion on the current state of the art of personalized skin care and prediction for the future application of gene profiling, the challenges and opportunities it offers. Following are some of their comments in a skin care panel.

INTRODUCTION
In 1988 a committee established by the United States (US) National Academy of Sciences supported by the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Energy publicized the main goals of the Human Genome Project (HGP). US Congress financially supported the project. HGP investigators deciphered the human genome in three major ways; 1) determine the order or sequence of all bases in the human genome DNA, 2) mapping the location of genes for major sections of all human chromosomes and 3) finding linkage maps through which inherited traits can be tracked over generations. Linkage traits are associated with genetic disease that is passed on from generation to generation. The HGP revealed that there are at least 20,500 human genes. These are inheritable instructions for the development of the human being. The full sequence was completed in April 2003. The project was thought to be more ambitious than the splitting of the atom and going to the moon. By November 2002, 3 million human genetic variations were identified. The variations are termed single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs).

GENE PROFILING
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