What Does Your Genome Say About Who You Are?

Genome sequencing projects have revealed the massive catalogue of genes in a variety of organisms, from simple organisms to man. Biologists are faced with a major challenge as they confront this embarrassment of riches: how to assign functions to thousands of uncharacterized genes and how to use this information to identify genes that work together to produce healthy or diseased cells and organisms. This lecture describes how studies in simple model cells provide insights into the "wiring diagram" of cells, which are important in fulfilling the promise of genomics for personalized medicine.