Abstract
When our knowledge of a field accumulates to a certain level, we are bound to see the rise of one or more great scientists. They will make a series of grand discoveries/breakthroughs and push the discipline into an ‘age of grand discoveries’. Mathematics, geography, physics and chemistry have all experienced their ages of grand discoveries; and in life sciences, the age of grand discoveries has appeared countless times since the 16th century. Thanks to the ever-changing development of molecular biology over the past 50 years, contemporary life science is once again approaching its breaking point and the trigger for this is most likely to be ‘lifeomics’. At the end of the 20th century, genomics wrote out the ‘script of life’; proteomics decoded the script; and RNAomics, glycomics and metabolomics came into bloom. These ‘omics’, with their unique epistemology and methodology, quickly became the thrust of life sciences, pushing the discipline to new high. Lifeomics, which encompasses all omics, has taken shape and is now signalling the dawn of a new era, the age of grand discoveries.
Highlights
Natural science is the “art” of discovery, and discovery is the cornerstone of natural science
Mathematics, geography, physics and chemistry have all experienced their ages of grand discoveries; and in life sciences, the age of grand discoveries has appeared countless times since the 16th century
At the end of the 20th century, genomics wrote out the ‘script of life’; proteomics decoded the script; and RNAomics, glycomics and metabolomics came into bloom
Summary
State Key Laboratory of Proteomics,Beijing Proteome Research Center, National Center for Protein Science (Beijing), Beijing 100850, China Received January 5, 2013; accepted January 10, 2013. When our knowledge of a field accumulates to a certain level, we are bound to see the rise of one or more great scientists They will make a series of grand discoveries/breakthroughs and push the discipline into an ‘age of grand discoveries’. At the end of the 20th century, genomics wrote out the ‘script of life’; proteomics decoded the script; and RNAomics, glycomics and metabolomics came into bloom These ‘omics’, with their unique epistemology and methodology, quickly became the thrust of life sciences, pushing the discipline to new high. A detailed look at the history of science reveals numerous examples of ‘spurring with long accumulation’: when our understanding of a field accumulates to a certain level, we are bound to see the rise of one or more groundbreaking scientists These great scientists will trigger a flood of discoveries, break the shackles of time and advance our understanding to new high. Thanks to the rapid development of molecular biology over the past 50 years, especially in the area of omics over the past 20 years, contemporary life science is once again approaching its breaking point and the trigger for this is most likely to be ‘lifeomics’ (i.e., genomics, RNAomics, proteomics, etc.)
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