Building on the genome

The answer is d, all of the above. We are indeed in the age of "'omics."

The names may sound intimidating, but they come from a basic concept -- there's more to us than just genes. Remember that DNA's major function is to house genes, which are the templates for the proteins our cells use.

• Proteomics is the study of proteins and how they interact;
• transcriptomics is the study of the complete set of messenger RNA expression in a tissue, cell or organ; and
• metabolomics is the study of the interactions of the products of metabolism in a cell,
  tissue, or organ.

The point is that what genes do is just part of the process. Understanding how proteins are made and how they interact with each other are keys to employing our DNA map to make better medicine.

That's why many scientists say that understanding the human genome is just the start of the work that needs to be done.