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onk Gregor Mendel is considered to be the father of genetics. While working as a monk in the mid 1800s, he performed experiments on over 29,000 pea plants, and put forth the concept of genetic transmission of traits (Wikipedia, 2007). These ideas are known as “Mendel’s Laws of Inheritance.” Gregor Mendel’s ideas were not accepted or believed until the 20^th century. In around 1900, Hugo de Vries and Carl Correns realized the importance of his discoveries. Mendel discovered the roles of dominant and recessive genes, and their importance in the inheritance of characteristics. In 1865, Mendel said that genes were inherited through generations. These genes were particles that maintained their identity across generations (Chromosome theory of heredity, 1999). Mendel stated that each child receives traits from both parents (Chromosome theory of heredity, 1999). He believed that genes exist as pairs in body cells.

n experiments, he represented dominant alleles as uppercase letters, and recessive ones as lower case. If one child inherits genes A and B from one parent, an a and b from another, the possible genetic combinations are: Ab, AB, aB, ab (Chromosome theory of heredity, 1999). Mendel’s laws can be classified into three subgroups (Snedden, R. 1995). He stated that all organisms had particles of inheritance, known today as genes. He proposed that a certain characteristic opposed the other. Mendel strongly believed that genes must exist for each characteristic, and that when fertilization takes place, the sperm and egg combine, thus giving one particle, or gene, to the child, per characteristic.

he next great advance in genetics was the discovery of the structure of the DNA molecule by Francis Crick and James D. Watson in 1953 (Wikipedia, 2007). They were jointly awarded the 1962 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine "for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material." (Wikipedia, 2007) Their discovery became the foundation for the Human Genome Project. This allowed scientists to think about the possibility of testing the components of individual DNA. Watson was the head of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, and was named the head of the Human Genome Project.

rancis Collins was another major contributor to the world of modern genetics. He was born on April 14, 1950, in Virginia, and home-schooled till the sixth grade (Wikipedia, 2007). Early on, he had no interest for biology. Educated at Yale University, Collins received a Ph.D. in physical chemistry in 1974. After earning his M.D. at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1977, he served as a resident of internal medicine at the North Carolina Memorial Hospital, from 1978 to 1981. As Wikipedia (2007) states, after joining the University of Michigan in 1984, Collins continued developing methods of reading large stretches of DNA to discover diseases genes. His gene-hunting approach to genetics lead him to the position of Professor of Internal Medicine and Human Genetics at the University of Michigan, in 1981. This method, called “positional cloning” has become an integral part of modern day genetics. This approach allows scientists to discover mutated genes, without prior knowledge of the abnormalities of the gene.

n 1989, Collins applied this method to hopefully find a cure for cystic fibrosis. Some other successes include the discovery of the genes coding for: Huntington's disease, neurofibromatosis, multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1, as well as adult Leukemia. In 1993, Collins accepted the position of director of the National Center for Human Genome Research (NHGRI), succeeding James Watson. As director, Collins supervises mass genetic sequencing. With new technology, Francis Collins hopes to discover genes leading to cancer, heart disease, and mental illness. Collins’ efforts have allowed the Human Genome Project (HGP) to work under budget, and quickly.

n June 2000, Collins and Bill Clinton announced that all 3 billion base pairs had been mapped, completing the human genome. Collins’ most ambitious plan was to create the Haplotype map. This is a huge database consisting of all the SNPs, helping in the discovery of the treatment for the diseases. This attempt was successful. Furthermore, Collins is known for incorporating religion into his works. He recently published “The Language of God”, a smash hit (Wikipedia, 2007). Collins’ progress has been recognized by numerous awards, such as his election into the Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences.

any Canadians, such as Thomas J. Hudson, have made monumental advances in genetics. Tom Hudson was born June 12, 1961, in Arvida, Quebec (Wikipedia, 2007). Hudson received his Medical degree (M.D.) at the Université de Montréal, in 1985, later working as a resident in Internal Medicine, Clinical Immunology and Allergy at McGill University. In 1990, Hudson decided to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, working with David Housman. In Massachusetts he joined in an attempt to construct a physical map of the human genome. As Wikipedia (2007) states, by the year 2006, he and his devoted team mapped over 10,000 genes. From 1995 to 2001, Hudson became assistant director of the Whitehead Institute/MIT Center for Genome Research. Thomas Hudson was attracted back to Montreal, at the McGill University Health Center, in 1996, where he started the Montreal Genome Center. He and his team eventually moved into the McGill University and Genome Quebec Innovation Centre.

ntil 2006, Tom Hudson worked as a doctor and geneticist in McGill, with his main scope on the detection of diseases. His most amazing discoveries include discovering genes for Type II diabetes, susceptibility to leprosy, multiple sclerosis, asthma and inflammatory bowel disease. One of Hudson’s publications about inflammatory bowel disease in 2001 lead to the start of the Haplotype map project. This map was completed in 2005. From 2001 to 2005, Hudson was associate director of the Canadian Genetics Disease Network, and started Genome Quebec and Genome Canada. In 2006, Hudson left Montreal for Toronto, where he would lead the new Ontario Institute for Cancer Research in Toronto, Ontario. Hudson, due to his progress in science, has received innumerable awards such as: a winner of Canada’s Top 40 under 40, in 1998, the Radio-Canada scientist of the year award in 2000. In 2001, Hudson won the Robert H. Haynes Young Scientist Award by the Genetics Society of Canada. He received a Burroughs-Wellcome Clinician-Scientist Award in 2002, and was voted as the person who made the most significant contribution to healthcare by the readers of MacLean's magazine, in 2005. Finally, in 2006, Hudson was elected to the Royal Society of Canada.

nother extremely important contributor to Canadian genetics is Professor Majid Belouchi. Professor Belouchi was born in Morroco (M. Belouchi, personal communication, March 29, 2007). Dr. Belouchi received his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the Université de Montréal. He was the former director of Scientific Affairs at a gene discovery company called Algene Biotechnologies (Genizon, 2007). Dr. Belouchi has over 20 years of experience in his fields of genetics and molecular biology, and played a tremendously important role in mapping genes involved in common diseases. These include such diseases as Schizophrenia. Dr. Belouchi was the first person to sequence DNA in Canada, and worked as the scientific director of affairs at Algène Biotechnology Inc. He has also mapped many diseases in mice, with relevance to diseases in human beings. He was recently implicated in the treatment of diabetes in mice. Genizon (2007) also states that Dr. Belouchi is a professor at the Université de Montréal, as well as the original founder of Genizon Canada, and sells genetic information to Pfizer and Genetech.