The Human Genome Project was founded in 1990 to: sequence the DNA base pairs that make up the human genome, identify genes in the genome, and compare genes between humans and other animals. Scientists from Great Britain, France, Italy, Japan, and the United States teamed up to accomplish these goals. All states involved set common standards such as keeping the new information public and up-to-date. Being able to bring together individuals from different states and backgrounds is one of the many accomplishments of this project.
From the United States, the National Institute for Health (NIH) and the Department of Energy (DOE) spearheaded the efforts. The NIH’s involvement in the project seems logical because knowing more about the genome can aid in measures taken focusing on human health. The DOE’s involvement, on the other hand, may not seem as straightforward. This group was interested in being involved primarily to see the effects of nuclear energy on human DNA to better understand any negative side effects that may come of using this energy source. (To read more about the NIH’s involvement in the Human Genome Project, go to: https://www.genome.gov/)
The main goals of the Human Genome Project were to decode the DNA sequence of roughly 3 billion bases, interpret the information stored in the genome for better understanding in human genetics and biology, sequence the genomes of several other key species, and explore the consequences of this research.
To help meet the goal of addressing the consequences of the research, a bioethics program was created. The main controversy they faced was the potential for genetic information being misused. People worried that learning more about individual’s genetic make-up could lead to discrimination with obtaining health insurance or in the workplace. Another concern was deciding which genes were acceptable to alter, and under what conditions.
In 1991, the Genome Data Base at John Hopkins University became the central location for mapping data.
By 2000, 50% of the human genome sequence was available in the public domain.
In 2003, the official project was completed. Some of the accomplishments of the project include completing it two years ahead of schedule and using less money than they were allocated to do so. The project also resulted in the world’s largest bioethics program. Human, brewers’ yeast, roundworm, and fruit fly genomes were all successfully sequenced.
The project has continued and expanded since 2003, but at that point, the original goals of the project were completed.
The Human Genome Project and Cancer 