In an interesting Editorial of Medicina (Buenos Aires) twenty years ago¹, Dr. Kotsias highlight ed the jubilee of the double helix proposal of de oxyribonucleic acid (DNA). Now, seventy years after this discovery² that revolutionized all bio medical sciences from 1953 onwards, it is nec essary to remember this outstanding advance for humankind. In addition, this year also cel ebrates the twenty years of the sequencing of the human genome^3,4, with which the Postge nomic Era began, whose advances are outlined as protagonists in the Fifth Industrial Revolu tion that humankind is experiencing⁵. There fore, this Letter aims to reflect on the seventy years of the structure of DNA, the twenty years since the sequencing of the human genome and the health impacts of the current Fifth In dustrial Revolution.

In an intense and competitive race between various research groups⁶, the American biologist James D. Watson and the British biophysicist Francis H. C. Crick proposed the molecular struc ture for DNA, the famous double helix model². With this, the key was obtained to understand the “secret of life”, an authentic “Rosetta stone” to decipher the genetic code of all living beings. With this advance, molecular biology was pro pelled towards its zenith, and new disciplines, such as molecular genetics and structural biol ogy, emerged. Watson and Crick, and Maurice Wilkins received the Nobel Prize in 1962 for this discovery. However, Rosalind Franklin, a skilled British chemist and crystallographer, did not re ceive this distinction as she died years before. In addition, Franklin’s relevant contribution to the Watson and Crick Model would have been inten tionally pushed into the background by a team of scientists who, while brilliant, have been con sidered dysfunctional and prone to rivalries in a culturally discriminatory context and sexist to wards the work of a woman scientist^6,7.

The proposal of the structure of DNA came to answer several relevant questions in genetics. At the same time, it raised other relevant ques tions and challenges for biological and medical sciences. Solving the DNA structure puzzle was critical for Crick to propose the famous central dogma of molecular biology8, which establishes that transfer of genetic information from nucle ic acid to a nucleic acid or from nucleic acid to protein may be possible⁸; however, transfer from protein to protein, or from protein to nucleic acid is impossible⁸.

Among the various scientific challenges that molecular biologists and geneticists faced, thanks to this new knowledge about the bio chemistry of nucleic acids, one particularly relevant arose: Knowing the complete sequence of the genomes of several species, especially the human genome⁹. The Genomic Era had arisen. Due to knowledge and technical limitations and the high costs of obtaining DNA sequences, the first genomes sequenced were relatively small, i.e., less than 20 000 nucleotides in length⁹. In the 1980s, the genomes of organelles such as mito chondria, chloroplasts, and some viruses were sequenced⁹. In the 1990s, it was possible to sequence the complete genome of some prokaryotes and brewer’s yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisi ae), a relatively simple eukaryote⁹. The Human Genome Project was initiated in 1990 and com pleted in 2003. It aimed to sequence the whole human genome¹⁰. Here again, a fierce race was observed between scientists from public and private institutions to reveal the secrets of hu man genetic material, a competition characterized by great scientific rivalries that made spilt much ink⁶. Although this project represented a great advance in understanding the human genome and its complexity, several questions remained unanswered¹⁰. The fact that only about 20 000 genes are protein and RNA-coding is one of the most striking Human Genome Proj ect results. The human genome is as complex and unique as other organisms. These findings demystified the expectations created around human DNA¹⁰. However, the information ob tained was crucial for the new understanding of health and disease from the molecular diag nosis point of view and for developing a predic tive medicine.

The development of the Human Genome Proj ect and various other DNA sequencing initiatives in the last decades has led to the refinement and development of new techniques in molecular biotechnology. The knowledge obtained led to generically called “omics” techniques, including proteomics, metabolomics, and transcriptomics. “Omics” techniques are based on analyzing a large data volume and therefore use bioinfor matics and fast, high-throughput automated techniques to integrate the information coher ently. Thus, with the completion of the human genome sequencing project, the current Postge nomic Era began.

In concluding remarks, we are living in the Postgenomic Era. But also, we are going through a Fifth Industrial Revolution⁵, characterized by mass customization, more environmentally friendly processes, productive approaches focused on us ers (clients or patients; i.e., personalized medi cine), digitization, intelligent manufacturing, cobotics (i.e., robots designed, manufactured and used to interact and cooperate with human be ings), the Internet of Things (i.e., physical objects with sensors, processing ability, and software that connect and exchange information with other devices over the internet), smart devices, artificial intelligence, and cyber-physical systems, as well as molecular biotechnology and advanced genetic engineering⁵. In this context, professionals and researchers in biomedical sciences should be prepared to understand the revolutionary tech nologies of gene editing, synthetic DNA, and the future advent of cyber-biological entities. All the above requires a profoundly academic, bioethical, and legal reflection on the experts and decision-makers regarding regulations in these advanced scientific-technological areas that have emerged to stay.