DNA-DAY 2011 - Memorable Quotes

“Because of the narrow shape of the Suez Canal these alleles have never arrived” (B. Chiara, Italy)

“To get chickens we need eggs, chickens are what we need to get more eggs, so we need DNA to get information to get proteins, but we need the proteins for the synthesis of DNA” (B. Karpicharov, Macedonia)

“The Neanderthal man lives inside us” (A. Scaccabarozzi, Italy)

“Synapse between past and future, ancestors and descendants” (M. Pavlovic, Serbia)

Question 2 (Direct-to-Cosumer Genetic Testing)

“This human determination, to step into himself like into an unknown wasteland is noble by its universality. And when you have barely tamed the stark climate, you start to explore the earth….” (B. Coumbe, United Kingdom)

“Maybe there has to be a line between what is right and beautiful to know in order to be happy and to be realized thoroughly during the time that is given us, and what instead induces it to be a mere effect of a calculus, of a boring scheme, that we should renounce from buying genetic tests together with the tomatoes when we go shopping?” (A. Campani, Italy)

“Alone at the monitor, Andrew [who took the online test] feels abandoned to itself and unable to face an obstacle that seems insurmountable, Philip [who went to a specialist] begins a journey difficult but therapeutic supported and reassured by a specialist.” (F. Banchero, Italy)

DNA-DAY 2010 - Memorable Quotes

Question 1 (Mendel):

“To make an analogy to the fact that in a well-developed, burst-into-leaf tree, the most important is the root, then fruit, the most important in science is the beginning”
(S. Maja, Macedonia)

“Genetics is like a crossword. The more words you write, the easier it can be solved. There are many clues how to make this puzzle, and the youngest people, who have just familiarized with Mendel’s laws, may be one of those, who will write a word into the crossword puzzle.”
(R. Dainiute, Lithuania)

“Could we simulate the development in the field of Genetics since Mendel’s time, we could probably figure a toaster turning into a supersonic jet”
(R. Haidis, Greece)

“Like every fairy tale we have heard, it is necessary to listen to it from the beginning in order to understand the ending. And genetics can be compared to a fairy tale about which we don’t know the ending … for which we must be prepared. So, I think it’s necessary to continue studying Mendel, because it has been the starting point of this incredible story.”
(F. Geretto, Italy)

“In my opinion, the advances of our time shouldn’t overshadow Mendel’s work, on the contrary: they are better understood if enriched with the perspective of the Austrian monk whose legacy is far much beyond the 19th century or the walls of Saint Thomas Abbey in Brno.“
(J. Rodriques, Portugal)

“Dear Mr. Mendel, Here am I writing to inform you that you led to a scientific outburst; your studies of the inheritance of certain traits in pea plants gave you posthumous fame as the father and exponent of genetics…. Mr. Mendel, your job had encouraged lots of scientists to keep researching in the field of genetics and since we now have a lot more information, I would like to share some of it with you- Genetics, the child you gave birth to, has not grown into an adult and is nowadays and important discipline of biology…"
(D. Gaspar, Portugal)

“In my opinion, Mendel and his successors have released a powerful genie that will never be returned to the bottle. The gene can do any bidding in shaping lives for good and ill; and it depends on us, on our good will not to destroy our environment and humanity….I feel excited witnessing the progress of genetics from mendel to contemporary geneticist and imagining its impacy on our work and life in the near future.”
(V. Gurskyte, Lithuania)

“Every mountain has a base; no one goes direct to top but step by step with proper learning” (A. Mehta, India)

Question 2 (predicting height)

“Knowing that the height of a son or a daughter is going to be impressive, happy parents might choose from more pretentious names, such as Leipa or Guoba for a girl, while Heraklis would suit a basketball-type boy. The life-long annoyance of a 150cm tall Uosis is easily imaginable…. To conclude, shal lwe bother with our height: It is probably great that we are not able to decide—our genes have more power in this matter. Anyway, the most important, in my opinion, is to be happy. And happiness, fortunately does not depend on the height anyhow. It depends on the hormones, which are extremely active in spring…..”
(D. Adomaitis, Lithuania)

“To round off with a most suitable analogy in favour of the importance of inheritance patterns, I guess it is virtually impossible to catch every shade of a book by reading, however well, its single pages distinctly, without concentrating on what keeps them logically bound”.
(M. Pedota, Italy)

“Research on DNA and on the human genome is certain to remain a controversial topic. It appears to me that the key to a broader awareness and to a better understanding of its importance is information and respect. If scientists succeed in informing the public about their achievements, if they show that they proceed with the necessary respect for human dignity in the process of researching, we might eventually be able to leave behind narrow mind-frames and fears and thus initiate a more factual discussion….”
(P. Burkowski, Austria)

DNA-DAY 2009 - Memorable Quotes

"....clearly, it's much more than genetics. No one has to, and no one should accept gene factors simply as a matter of faith. Anything's possible. Keep thinking. Keep overriding your DNA"
(M. Dimitrovska, Skopje, Macedonia)

(speaking of the diabetes predisposition in her family). "The malformed gene is found in every member of my family, but whether it will be provoked or not depends on us. For example, I would point out that diabetes has been infiltrating through my bloodline for generations. Based on family experience, we should be careful regarding food and be moderate in spite of our health. YOU CAN ONLY DIE FROM SPOON, NOT FOR SPOON"
(D. Kovaceva, Skopje, Macedonia)

"Moreover, I think that genetic information, or genetic factors in general, are both the Queen of the cells and the Grandmother of all living organisms"
(M. Matjusaitis, Siauliai, Lithuania)

"Once upon a time there was a genetically modified tomato. It was huge and weighed 680grams. It had a shape of an irregularly-shaped pumpkins and a colour of bright red with green stripes. It was really proud of its phenotype- it looked so juicy, so tempting that any simple tomato could not match it"......"simple tomatoes were not jealous at all. They knew that nothing can change natural habitat, food and world"
(V. Jakaite, Vilnius, Lithuania)