Genome Chaos. Rethinking Genetics, Evolution, and Molecular Medicine

Authors

Henry H. Heng Professor, Center for Molecular Medicine and Genetics, Pathology Department, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, USA. Dr. Henry H. Heng has coauthored over 200 publications and serves on the editorial boards of six international, peer-reviewed journals. Using single-cell analysis of in vitro and in vivo models, Dr. Heng's group has illustrated the evolutionary dynamics of cancer progression by directly observing evolution in action. These experiments demonstrated that stochastic punctuated genome alterations rather than stepwise gene mutations are the driving force of cancer evolution. By applying this concept to organismal evolution, he discovered that the main function of sex is to reduce genetic diversity at the genome level in order to preserve the information and genome-defined species identity. Heng has introduced the Genome Architecture Theory, a new genome-based conceptual framework of genomics and evolution.