Happy Anniversary! It was 10 years ago this month that the first complete human genome sequence was published in Science and Nature Magazines. Discussion and planning of the project had started in1986 when the National Academies of Science gathered a group of experts to discuss the feasibility and advisability of undertaking such an enormous task. They produced a report in 1988 advising that plans should proceed ahead. It would involve private and public partnerships that would have to develop new technology to do the job. Estimates were that it would take over 10 years and cost $3billion US. Expectations were that sequencing the human genome would revolutionize modern medicine.
In reality the human genome project was finished ahead of schedule and below budget. A truly remarkable feat! It launched the field of medical genetics and personalized medicine. The idea that medicines will be tailored to your specific genome is remarkable. While some have questioned why more clinical applications like personalized medicine haven’t been developed, many advances linking genomic differences and clinical treatment have emerged. Drugs such as gleevac (chronic myeloid leukemia), warfarin (anti-clotting), mercaptopurine (immune suppression), interferon (hepatitis C), herceptin (breast cancer) and tamoxifen (breast cancer) among others that are administered based on presence of specific genomic sequences or expression of particular proteins have been developed as a consequence of this project. Many more are in development or will be developed as research continues.
visit bitsofscience.org
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