In my English class we're doing a research paper on what we think is the greatest medical advancement and I'm gonna do the mapping of the human genome. Any thoughts?

interesting choice. i assume you are looking more to the future, than to the present.

yea. what the future possibilities are, like getting rid of genetic disease and increasing human lifespan.

at present, i would say the mapping of the human genome has contributed more to the 'advancement' of medical ethics than to medicine. by using the word 'advancement' i am being a little sarcastic, but maybe you understand what i am getting at?

 

the good thing about your project is the wealth of resources you have, including a recent paper in nature.

 

perhaps the biggest challenge you will have is to keep to the subject of the human genome. utilising the information of the human genome for future medical advancement will require major advances in other areas of research, the most obvious being stem cell research.

Great medical advancements for me would be the use of ether in surgery and the discovery and advancement of anaethesia. This overwhemingly increased patient survival.

Others would be Pastuer's work on isolating microbes as source of infection, Metchnikoff's work on starfish (immune cells) or Garrod's pioneeringwork on enzymopathies linking genetic defects and deformed proteins to congenital disease.