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Your Health -- Genome announcement brings new possibilities

June 30, 2000
Web posted at: 5:11 p.m. EDT (2111 GMT)

In this story: 'Technological triumph' Potential for medical breakthroughs RELATED STORIES, SITES

From staff reports

(CNN) -- The sequencing of the human genome is a scientific milestone, U.S. and British researchers said this week, but the most important work lies ahead, in determining how to put the information to medical use.

The heads of the public and private efforts to decipher the genetic makeup of human beings announced the completion of a rough draft of the project -- more than 10 years after it was begun.

AUDIO Listen to President Clinton discuss the benefits of the Human Genome Project 292K AIFF or 292K WAV sound British Prime Minister Tony Blair describes the Human Genome Project as "a revolution in medical science" 311K AIFF or 311K WAV sound    VIDEO Reporter Jonathan Aiken looks at the possibility that advances in the science of genetics could result in discrimination against individuals by employers and insurers. QuickTime Play Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K Dr. Michael Dexter of the Wellcome Trust says the genome project shows us our 'common humanity' QuickTime Play Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K Researchers at the Sanger Centre say genome sequencing is the beginning of a new journey QuickTime Play Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K     MESSAGE BOARD Cracking the human genome   Features Overview Interact: Genome guide Glossary Q&A Essays Medical implications Business implications Ethical implications Newsbank Related sites Story archive Video archive Chat series Message board Interviews Francis Collins   Human Genome Project Robert Cook-Deegan   Author, "Gene Wars" Eric Lander   Human Genome Project Craig Venter   Celera

"Mapping the human genome has been compared with putting a man on the moon, but I believe it is more than that," said Dr. Michael Dexter, the director of the Wellcome Trust, which funded the British part of the Human Genome Project.

"This is the outstanding achievement not only of our lifetime but perhaps in the history of mankind," Dexter told a London news conference Monday.

The Human Genome Project is an international consortium supported mostly by the U.S. National Institutes of Health and the Wellcome Trust, a philanthropic organization based in London. Celera Genomics, a private company in Rockville, Maryland, also conducted research, as did numerous other facilities throughout the world.

The progress the researchers have made heralds a new era of medical discovery, U.S. President Bill Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair declared at a White House news conference acknowledging the successes.

"This is the most important, most wondrous map ever produced by humankind," Clinton said in Washington. "Humankind is on the verge of gaining immense new power to heal. Genome science ... will revolutionize the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of most, if not all, human diseases."

Joining Clinton via satellite link from London, Blair called the genome project "the first great technological triumph of the 21st century."

Both leaders, however, emphasized the need to use the information wisely and maintain international cooperation in its development.

The medical benefits of genome science, they agreed, must be used to benefit all people, not only a privileged few. Individual privacy must be protected as science moves forward with the project, and the information must not be used to discriminate against any group or person.

If the project proves anything, Clinton said, it is that "the most important fact of life on this Earth is our common humanity."

The sentiment was echoed by the men who have directed the U.S. research teams pursuing the genome puzzle.

"What a profound responsibility it is to do this work," said Dr. Francis Collins, director of the Human Genome Project at the National Institutes of Health. "Historians will consider this a turning point."

J. Craig Venter, who heads the private company Celera Genomics, concurred.

"It is my belief that the basic knowledge that we're providing to the world will have a profound impact on the human condition and the treatments for disease and our view of our place on the biological continuum," Venter said.

All the researchers involved praised the high level of international cooperation that enabled them to reach this stage, and they pledged to keep that momentum going.

Mapping the chemical sequences for human DNA -- the chemical "letters" that make up the recipe of human life -- is a breakthrough that is expected to revolutionize the practice of medicine by paving the way for new drugs and medical therapies.

Specific sequences of DNA characters form the genes that make us what we are, govern our biological functions and determine our susceptibility to illnesses like cancer or diabetes.

Mapping involves three separate steps: sequencing, assembling and annotating the genes.

In the sequencing phase, researchers identified the approximately 3.5 billion chemical letters (A, C, G, T) that make up human DNA, the building block of the genes.

In the assembling phase, they put those letters in the correct order, allowing them to "read" each gene.

Venter said Celera had sequenced 99 percent of the human genome and had assembled 3.21 billion letters of genetic code. The most difficult part is yet to come, however.

In the final step, annotating, scientists must identify each gene and its function. They will look for the genetic variations in people -- variations that could be the cause of countless diseases.

That step is expected to take several years to complete. However, scientists said doctors one day would be able to study a person's genetic profile, determine his susceptibility to various diseases, and design a course of treatment to prevent illness.

"You're going to see a proliferation of discoveries about the genetic contributions to diabetes and heart disease and high blood pressure and schizophrenia and multiple sclerosis and on down the list," Collins told CNN.

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National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI)
  • The Human Genome Project
  • The Human Genome Project: From Maps to Medicine
Human Genome Sequencing
The Human Genome Organisation (HUGO)
CDC - Office of Genetics
Department of Energy-Life Sciences Division
Celera Genome Research
  •  Genomics Education
Cooperative Human Linkage Center
The Insitute for Genomic Research
Los Alamos National Laboratory: Center for Human Genome Studies
Stanford Human Genome Center
Advanced Center for Genome Technology, University of Oklahoma
University of Utah: Human Genetics Department
University of Washinton Genome Center
Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, MIT
Genethon Genome Research (France)
Genome Sequence Centre (Canada)
Sanger Centre (U.K.)
Centre for Human Genome Research (Denmark)

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