Editing Genomics (section)

== Applications ==
[[File:Human karyotype with bands and sub-bands.png|thumb|Schematic [[karyotype|karyogram]] of a human, providing a simplified overview of the human genome. It is a graphical representation of the idealized human [[diploid]] karyotype, with annotated [[Locus (genetics)|bands and sub-bands]]. It shows dark and white regions on [[G banding]]. Each row is vertically aligned at [[centromere]] level. It shows 22 [[Homologous chromosome|homologous]] [[autosomal]] chromosome pairs, both the female (XX) and male (XY) versions of the two [[sex chromosome]]s, as well as the [[human mitochondrial genetics|mitochondrial genome]] (at bottom left). {{further|Karyotype}}]]

Genomics has provided applications in many fields, including [[medicine]], [[biotechnology]], [[anthropology]] and other [[social sciences]].<ref name = "Barnes_2008"/>

=== Genomic medicine ===
Next-generation genomic technologies allow clinicians and biomedical researchers to drastically increase the amount of genomic data collected on large study populations.<ref name = "Feero_2011"/> When combined with new informatics approaches that integrate many kinds of data with genomic data in disease research, this allows researchers to better understand the genetic bases of drug response and disease.<ref name = "Feero_2011a"/><ref name = "Lu_2014"/>

Early efforts to apply the genome to medicine included those by a Stanford team led by [[Euan Ashley]] who developed the first tools for the medical interpretation of a human genome.<ref name="Ashley_2010" /><ref name="Dewey_2011" /><ref name="Dewey_2014" /> The Genomes2People research program at [[Brigham and Women’s Hospital]], [[Broad Institute]] and Harvard Medical School was established in 2012 to conduct empirical research in translating genomics into health. [[Brigham and Women's Hospital]] opened a Preventive Genomics Clinic in August 2019, with [[Massachusetts General Hospital]] following a month later.<ref name="Robbins_2019" /><ref name="Dark_Daily_2020" /> The ''All of Us'' research program aims to collect genome sequence data from 1 million participants to become a critical component of the precision medicine research platform<ref name="NIH_2018" /> and the ''UK Biobank'' initiative has studied more than 500.000 individuals with deep genomic and phenotypic data.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Bycroft |first1=Clare |last2=Freeman |first2=Colin |last3=Petkova |first3=Desislava |last4=Band |first4=Gavin |last5=Elliott |first5=Lloyd T. |last6=Sharp |first6=Kevin |last7=Motyer |first7=Allan |last8=Vukcevic |first8=Damjan |last9=Delaneau |first9=Olivier |last10=O'Connell |first10=Jared |last11=Cortes |first11=Adrian |last12=Welsh |first12=Samantha |last13=Young |first13=Alan |last14=Effingham |first14=Mark |last15=McVean |first15=Gil |date=October 2018 |title=The UK Biobank resource with deep phenotyping and genomic data |journal=Nature |volume=562 |issue=7726 |pages=203–209 |doi=10.1038/s41586-018-0579-z |issn=1476-4687 |pmc=6786975 |pmid=30305743|bibcode=2018Natur.562..203B }}</ref>

=== Synthetic biology and bioengineering ===
The growth of genomic knowledge has enabled increasingly sophisticated applications of [[synthetic biology]].<ref name = "Church_2012"/> In 2010 researchers at the [[J. Craig Venter Institute]] announced the creation of a partially synthetic species of [[bacterium]], ''[[Mycoplasma laboratorium]]'', derived from the [[genome]] of ''[[Mycoplasma genitalium]]''.<ref name = "Baker_2011"/>

=== Population and conservation genomics ===
'''[[Population genomics]]''' has developed as a popular field of research, where genomic sequencing methods are used to conduct large-scale comparisons of DNA sequences among populations - beyond the limits of genetic markers such as short-range [[Polymerase chain reaction|PCR]] products or [[microsatellites]] traditionally used in [[population genetics]]. Population genomics studies [[genome]]-wide effects to improve our understanding of [[microevolution]] so that we may learn the [[phylogenetic]] history and [[demography]] of a population.<ref name = "Luikart_2003" /> Population genomic methods are used for many different fields including [[evolutionary biology]], [[ecology]], [[biogeography]], [[conservation biology]] and [[fisheries management]]. Similarly, '''[[landscape genomics]]''' has developed from [[landscape genetics]] to use genomic methods to identify relationships between patterns of environmental and genetic variation.

Conservationists can use the information gathered by genomic sequencing in order to better evaluate genetic factors key to species conservation, such as the [[genetic diversity]] of a population or whether an individual is heterozygous for a recessive inherited genetic disorder.<ref name = "Frankham_2010" /> By using genomic data to evaluate the effects of [[evolutionary process]]es and to detect patterns in variation throughout a given population, conservationists can formulate plans to aid a given species without as many variables left unknown as those unaddressed by standard [[Conservation genetics|genetic approaches]].<ref name = "Allendorf_2010" />