A decade ago, genomics-based companies were all the rage. Then one by one nearly all of the high-fliers of that era went bust, were acquired, or restructured (Celera, Orchid, etc). One of the last to hang on has been deCode Genetics of Iceland, a company that has produced a raft of important genetic association studies for a range of diseases and traits, from diabetes to heart disease. In 2007 they launched a direct-to-consumer website, deCodeme, and have been trying to build a genomic diagnostic business.

Now deCode has fallen, too, after several rough years punctuated by the recent financial meltdown and the collapse of the Iceland economy. The company recently filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S.

But deCode will continue in some form thanks to a group of investors that have funded an enterprise called Saga Investments, apparently named for the collection of "sagas" written centuries ago that tell the tales of the Vikings who settled Iceland in the ninth century. (These epic tales are favorites of deCode CEO and co-founder Kari Stefansson). The investors include original funders of the deCode "saga"--Polaris Venture Partners and Arch Venture.

Details of the deal and what exactly the company will look like after the dust settles is unclear, though I got an email from deCodeme saying that their direct to consumer service will continue uninterrupted.

The lesson here this is that genomics and genome-wide association studies continue to be merely one part of the equation of what goes on inside a human's body. As both science and a business proposition, other crucial factors that make us who we are--and perhaps who we will be in the future in terms of disease--need to be integrated and understood. These include environmental factors, proteomics, epigenetics, microbiomics, and much more.

And yet genomics continues to much of the attention from the media and in one conference after another--and in the continued attention being paid to direct-to-consumer genomics companies that are offering DNA data that is at best just one factor in a person's proclivity for acquiring a common disease.

This near obsession with genomics comes in part because DNA is much simpler and tidier with its neat rows of code than the rest of biology, which is dynamic and variable--and therefore sloppier to get a handle on and to understand. For more on this, check out my recent article on bio-computational wiz Eric Schadt and complex biology in the New York Times.

As deCode's demise (or restructuring?) suggests, genomics alone can't provide the answers we are seeking in personalized and predictive healthcare--though we can be appreciative of the contributions made by deCode researchers in the past and, hopefully--as the saga continues--in the future.

The science of biomonitoring continues to develop new technologies to inform governments, industry and individuals about what chemicals get into the environment - and into us - that shouldn't be there.

Most of these monitoring techniques are expensive and complicated, and can take hours or days to produce results. I know, because I have had labs test me for detectable levels of hundreds of chemical toxins--pesticides, metals, flame retardants, and more--for a story published in 2006.,

Now a team of chemists at McMaster University in Ontario have published a paper in Analytical Chemistry that describes a new biomonitoring technique using treated paper on a stick that can quickly identify trace amounts of pesticides in your chicken soup, or your first early morning cup of joe.

As reported in R&D:

The scientists describe the development of a new paper-based test strip that changes color shades depending on the amount of pesticide present. In laboratory studies using food and beverage samples intentionally contaminated with common pesticides, the test strips accurately identified minute amounts of pesticides. The test strips, which produced results in less than 5 minutes, could be particularly useful in developing countries or remote areas that may lack access to expensive testing equipment and electricity, they note.

The current yawning gap between the availability of genetic tests for common diseases and their usefulness for patients is due in part to a lack of physician training and familiarity with these tests. Many DNA markers that convey a higher risk for diseases such as diabetes and heart disease are preliminary in terms of their true predictive power for individual patients. But so was the cholesterol test 20 years ago. It took years of using and understanding the cholesterol test--and the collection of data on thousands and later millions of patients--to establish a cholesterol threshold as an acceptable guide to a person's heart attack risk. This process needs to happen for genetic test as well.

A helpful step in bringing genetic testing into the exam room was announced today by Boston-based Beth Isreal Deaconess Medical Center and California-based Navigenics, an online genetic company that is emphasizing alliances with medical centers and has been pushing the idea of educating doctors. Here is the announcement run on GenomeWeb Daily News:

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) - Navigenics and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston announced today that they will collaborate on training physicians in personal genomic testing.

Beth Israel has launched the Personalized Genomics and Next Generation Sequencing Training Program, which includes a series of lectures, discussions, and presentations, aimed at promoting a better understanding of the personalized genomics field and next-generation sequencing technologies. Among the specific goals of the program are fostering an understanding of issues related to the evaluation of direct-to-consumer genotyping services and familiarizing physicians with the interpretation of genomic information and its correlation with personal medical and health information.

As part of the program, residents will be given the opportunity to have their own genomes analyzed through Navigenics' consumer genomics services.

"We believe that genetics and genomics will be critical to the future of health care," Mark Boguski, of BIDMC's Department of Pathology and the Center for Biomedical Informatics at Harvard Medical School, said in a statement. "Training our residents on the leading genetic services and technologies will be essential to this future."