What is the Human Genome Project?
In 1984, the US Department of Energy and other significant governmental and environmental agencies convened to discuss the feasibility of generating the first sequence of the human genome. Nearly twenty years later, in 2003, biomedical researchers across the world completed this project and sequenced over 90% of the human genome. As one of the most collaborative and ambitious scientific projects in history, the Human Genome Project set a precedent for biomedical research going into the 21st century.
How was the Human Genome Project completed?
The mission of sequencing the entire human genome was highly ambitious given the limitations of technology at the time in which the Human Genome Project first started. As a result, researchers participating in the Human Genome Project not only aspired to map the entire human genome but also needed to fine tune methods of DNA sequencing. The seemingly straightforward process of accurately ordering the bases of DNA required sophisticated research and technologies. Over the course of the project, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium used blood samples from a variety of anonymous donors to inform their findings.
Why is the Human Genome Project important?
One of the key goals of the Human Genome Project was to advance abilities to diagnose and treat hereditary diseases. However, in successfully contributing to broader understandings of hereditary disease, the Human Genome Project simultaneously made great bounds in improving international scientific cooperation. A landmark agreement called the Bermuda Principles, came to fruition over the course of the project and advanced a greater openness to the sharing of biomedical research to benefit the international community.
