Why is mapping the cancer genome harder than mapping the human genome?
While the Cancer Genome Atlas (FAQ) is really the most natural follow on to human genome, there’s a significant expansion of complexity. The complexity is driven by complexity of cancer and genes. There are many more technical issues on the biology and human side and cancer is very much a moving target. The human genome had to measure the letters of DNA and their sequence. That’s just one of tools in the Cancer Genome Atlas. There are other types of tools and data to combine and measure. The sequence of DNA is not the only way to measure cancer. We have to measure the sequence of the codes, the expression of the genes and track how genes are turned on and off. We have lab tools that can do that measurement today. In fact, the lab technology available is a derivative of what was used in the human genome project. This will generate reams of data and lots of experiments. At first we’ll have 20,000 tumor samples and they all have to be compared to normal tissue. There will be more data wit
