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Beer, Bethesda, and Biology: How "Genomics" Came Into Being
Over the last decade, molecular genetics has spun off a lexicon of new words that scientists, including cancer researchers, now use to describe their work. One word that has become standard fare at many cancer meetings is "genomics," meaning the study and comparison of genomes across species.
Where did the word genomics come from? It is the brainchild of Thomas H. Roderick, Ph.D., a geneticist at the Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, Maine, who dreamed up the word in 1986 as the name of the then yet-to-be-published journal Genomics. In a recent interview, Roderick tells the News the story behind the word.
News: How did you come up with the word genomics?
Roderick: In 1986, I attended a good-sized international meeting in Bethesda to discuss the feasibility of mapping the entire human genome. The meeting had adjourned for the day, and Frank Ruddle, Ph.D. [Yale University], and Victor McKusick, M.D. [The Johns Hopkins University], convened a short submeeting involving about 50 people, including myself, to discuss starting a new genome-oriented scientific journal. The journal was to be a place to include sequencing data and as well to include discovery of new genes, gene mapping, and new genetic technologies. At the end of the meeting, Frank and Victor charged us to come up with a name for the new journal.
It now was late in the evening. A few of us went out to a recommended bar near one of those big office buildings in Bethesda. It was called the McDonald's Raw Bar [which has since been torn down]. There might have been 10 of us that night who went there and sat around drinking beer - actually a lot of beer. It was great fun.
We kept moving on the name. Some of us really wanted to name the journal, Genome. But the Canadian Journal of Genetics and Cytology had already announced their intention to change its name to "Genome," with their first issue to appear in 1987, about the time the new journal of McKusick and Ruddle was supposed to appear. Several names were considered using "Genome" as part of the title, but it was agreed they all were too cumbersome.
So, we sat around and talked. We were into our second or third pitcher, when I proposed the word "genomics." I don't know exactly how I came up with the word. I'm a geneticist, and it certainly isn't far from the word "genetics." I've heard the word "genetics" since I was in high school, so it must have played a part in the name. In fact, I'm sure it did.
I said the word to Frank Ruddle. Frank recognized it as a name that encompassed what we wanted to do. It wasn't just the objectives of the journal. It was GE-NOM-ICS. It was an activity, a new way of thinking about biology.
We adjourned that evening thinking genomics wasn't a bad name. But I didn't hear any more about it until Victor and Frank decided that was what they wanted to name the journal. Frank told me later that Victor had done some scholarly study of the word to be certain it was etymologically appropriate.
News: When you proposed the term genomics, what was the definition that was in your mind?
Roderick: Well, it certainly encompassed what the journal wanted to cover. It encompassed sequencing, mapping, and new technologies. But we felt it also had the comparative aspect of genomes of various species, their evolution, and how they related to each other. Although we didn't come up with the term "functional genomics," we thought of the genome as a functioning whole beyond just single genes or sequences spread around a chromosome.
News: Did you ever think when you left the raw bar in Bethesda that this name would become such a big part of biology?
Roderick: No. Victor and Frank thought their proposed journal had an important set of objectives defining a specific timely mission. I thought we had a tentative name for a journal beyond just sequencing and mapping.
-- Bob Kuska
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