Welcome
to this first of a series of occasional Newsletters. As President of AFSIS,
I am delighted to share some thoughts with you as I reflect back on the changes
I have seen in my career.
The trigger for my thoughts today is the announcement of the AFSIS hands-on courses on Molecular Biology Techniques, which are being offered in cooperation with the University of Udine, Italy. There are three short, intensive courses, each lasting about a week, starting in September 2004. You can find full details on this website, or click on the links. I suddenly realised just how far we have come in the life sciences since the time I was a student.
Molecular biology techniques are applications, which help us to identify and define a better basis for understanding biological species. At the same time, they provide immensely valuable support to applied biological sciences, such as bacteriology, for improving and enhancing the knowledge base on which the whole scientific field of biology depends. No tools are more important today for advancing understanding in the biological sciences than bacteriological diagnostic methodologies derived from molecular biology.
What a change!
In the 1950s, I spent my days at the Veterinary School of the Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki. Those were memorable times (of course all times are memorable) for people of my generation. Europe had just come out of yet another round of its people shamelessly slaughtering each other. We were beginning to tidy things up somewhat and our efforts were rechanelled from war into peaceful activities. Knowledge acquisition was geared accordingly.
Looking back on my university curriculum as I write this Newsletter,
I only now realise that the year (1953) I was taking biology was the very one
that the DNA double helix was proposed as a theory by Crick and Watson. This
came to light by colleting and assembling scattered scraps of knowledge. Nothing,
of course, was taught us on that subject; those were the days of strict adherence
to the teaching of university ‘’disciplines’’. The rules
of
Mendel and the information that the cell nucleus consists of nucleic acids were
the core of knowledge we were offered on genetics.
In the half century since, we have seen a lot of change. Probably there is a lot more change to come. Perhaps, though, it is time to pause for a while and trace a path back along the spectacular road biology has traveled since 1953. Never mind that in historical terms half a century is only a moment: for humans it is a life-span.
In the 1950s, chemistry and physics were still the queens of the basic sciences: that was where the best minds were investing their talents. Perhaps that was the result of the preeminence of nuclear physics and the fascination with nuclear power, whose drawbacks were not yet recognised. Biology was a lonely poor relation, a kind of scientific Cinderella.
Half a century ago, biology had almost nothing to do with everyday life. Not all universities with applied biological science schools, such as medicine, felt it necessary to include basic biology in their curriculum. A purely mechanistic approach to biological phenomena prevailed and biodiversity was seen a deviation from the ‘’normal’’ rather then as a true expression of the richness of life.
We have come along way since then. First, the fundamentals of the structure and function genetic material, and their formal description, were established beyond doubt. Secondly, the mechanics of intervention and the manipulation of genetic material developed. Thirdly, by using this knowledge, we have begun to achieve an understanding (or perhaps persuade ourselves we understand) of a working model of various genomes. This knowledge is the precondition for our ability to design specific interventions in genetic material for particular purposes and with particular outcomes in mind – such as a diagnostic test, or a new therapy. This capacity challenges us to examine our motives and goals: some of the implementations of genetic engineering techniques must be regarded as highly questionable; others are of clear benefit to practical life.
There is much to ponder.
AFSIS, in cooperation with the University of Udine is proud to offer state of the art courses on diagnostic Bacteriological Methods based on DNA probes. It seems fitting that this first Newsletter, a small milestone in itself, should be about the biggest milestones in the science I have studied all my life.
I look forward to welcoming some of you to Udine.
Dr. Apostolos Rantsios