Happy Birthday human genome (sequence)
Artwork depicting DNA double helix
Today marks ten years since the draft sequence of the human genome was published. Unsurprisingly, there’s been a fair amount of coverage celebrating this.
From a Wellcome point of view, we had several high-profile announcements and events to coincide with the anniversary.
It began on Monday with the announcement of the first pilot data from the 1000 Genomes Project.
Then on Tuesday, the $38 million Human Heredity and Health in Africa Project was launched, looking to bring the genomic revolution to the study of African genomes.
On Thursday night, Wellcome Collection hosted the Wellcome Debate on ‘new genetics’ and personal genome screening.
We were also at the Science Museum for the launch of the new Who Am I? gallery, alongside Nobel laureate Sir John Sulston and Dr Francis S Collins, Director of the US National Institutes of Health.
You can see a video of the launch even below:
Friday saw the launch of UK10K, which will study the genomes of 10,000 people. This builds on the principles of the 1000 Genomes Project, again looking for rare genetic variants that influence various aspects of health and disease.
Elsewhere, we also published several interviews with key genomics researchers reflecting on the Human Genome Project and looking forward to advances in the near future. And if you missed it, this blog featured a special interview with Michael Morgan, a former Programme Director at the Trust who played a key role in the Human Genome Project.
Media outlets all over the world also seized on the anniversary, with plenty of comment and analysis on genomics and how it has changed the world today. Here is some of the coverage:
- Transforming medicine in the genome age, BBC News. Also, blog posts from Tom Fieldon and Fergus Walsh.
- The Human Genome at Ten, a plethora of news, features and other stuff from Nature.
- Genome at 10, a collection of special articles at New Scientist.
- Personalized Medicine in the Genomic Era, a Scientific American special.
- The Guardian has a special picture gallery and also reports on Sir John Sulston’s warning against patenting genes, amongst other coverage. They also look back on their coverage of the Human Genome Project over the past ten years and feature an article on Allele, an attempt to make music out of the chemical structure of DNA.
- The Times carries an exclusive interview (conducted at the Trust after the H3 Africa press briefing) with Dr Francis S Collins of NIH, who proclaims that “within ten years I will be very surprised and very disappointed if most people in the developed world will not have their genomes sequenced as part of their medical record, and I would hope it will come even sooner.” (free registration required)
- “Ten years after the reading of the human genome, humanity is about to confront its true nature,” says a feature article in The Economist, while another of its stories says, “biological science is poised on the edge of something wonderful”.
