Movie Review: Cracking Your Genetic Code

The video I reflected on was “Cracking Your Genetic Code”. The documentary begins talking about a flash drive that contains a person’s genetic code. There are 6 billion letters in it and we could have a chance to see genome sequence for $1,000. But there are some ups and downs about it. Some people think it’s invasive because even insurance companies could look at it. But it could predict cancer. This could affect one’s life forever. How well do you want to know yourself? Genomics is almost like a personal medicine that predicts diseases and it could allow one to see their future. A misspelled gene can code for a disease. However, if there is a disease that is inevitable you may know ahead of time but are not allowed to act upon it. Andrew is a boy who has an unknown condition. It was hypothesized that it’s genetic. They searched through his genome to find out what it is. After 45 days, they continue to look for his medical condition. Unfortunately by the end of the documentary they did not have an answer. Geno typing is not the same as DNA sequencing. Geno …show more content…
Thomas was diagnosed with melanoma. Scans revealed it had spread to his necks, lungs and livers. Once he went to the clinic he was down to about a month and a half. Genomics found that there was a mutation in a certain gene. The goal is that if you can inhibit that gene you may be able to stop it. Thomas had the mutation and he could now use a drug to neutralize the affects. BRAF is a mutation that singles cells to divide uncontrollably. The drug binds to this protein and kills only cancer cells and nothing else. Thomas then got back to his normal life after two months. But it wasn’t over then. Cancer cells can evolve to resist drugs. New mutations can arise with the resistance. Tom then had to take a second drug. The scans showed regrowth in a limited area. The drug gave him a lot longer to live even though there were side