The Human Genome Project Essay

(3)The Human Genome project focuses on identifying, sequencing and mapping all genes in the human body. Also to develop faster methods for sequencing DNA. It is an international research project that celebrated its 27th anniversary on 1 October 2017. In comparison, the Human Genome Project can be compared to the Apollo project which brought humanity to the moon.

For many years now, Scientists have struggled to help medical practitioners treat their patients according to their symptoms and provided customized healthcare on a personal basis. However, how personal can medicine get? In 2003, researchers obtained a complete human genome from which the sequence and map of all genes in the human body can be used as a reference. With this development we are a step closer to treating cancer and other diseases.

In February 2001, Venter et al., reported on the “penultimate milestone” – the feat of mapping 95% of the euchromatic portion of the human genome (Venter et al., 2001). Multiple discoveries were made in the process of mapping the human genome: the number of genes (fewer than imagined); the percent difference between individuals (less than 0.1%); and new techniques (Polymerase Chain Reaction) (Venter et al., 2001; National Human Genome Research Institute, 2012).

It was thirty-one years ago that researchers from around the world sat down to commence what would be the world’s largest collaborative biological project. The Human Genome Project holds many clues about diseases caused by genes and how scientists can translate this knowledge in the area of gene-therapy to treat and cure genetic disorders. The Human Genome Project, in my opinion, is one of the greatest achievements made by mankind and ever since its completion in 2003, I've always wanted to contribute to projects like these.

Over the last 10 years scientists have been involved in the progression and completion of the Human Genome Project. "Scientists working on this project have developed detailed maps that identify the

The Human Genome Project was first proposed to Congress in 1990 by Department of Energy and National Institutes of Health as a part of

The International HapMap Project is a way to research and provide information about specific illnesses that would lead to new findings of preventing, diagnosing, and treating diseases. “The goal of the HapMap Project is to map and understand the patterns of common genetic diversity in the human genome in order to accelerate the search for the genetic cause of human disease” (Thorisson, 2005). They collect DNA and it contains long chains of four chemicals that are adenine, thymine, cytosine, and guanine. Within these chemicals they contain our physical traits, our likelihood of struggling from disease, and the response of our bodies to substances in the environment.

In June 2000, the publicly funded Human Genome Project (HGP) and the private firm Celera Genomics Inc. announced that they had completed sequencing the human genome. This unprecedented accomplishment is expected to enable doctors to diagnose, treat and even prevent numerous genetic diseases. As these two entities worked on sequencing the human genome, there was also a separate and less publicized race to patent as many human genes as possible.

The Goal of the Human Genome Project is to obtain genetic mapping information and to determine the complete sequence of all human DNA by the year of 2005. The project started in 1990 and 180 million dollars are being spent on it annually. This adds up to a total of over 2 billion dollars for the 15 year budget. Of this 2 billion dollars budgeted, 5% is spent annually on the ethical, legal and social issues. This report focused on some of these issues.

The Human Genome Project (HGP), an international scientific research project, has educated the public tremendously on various topics concerning DNA and genetics. This study has been beneficial to communities alike. As stated, the HGP sought to identify all the genes in human DNA, determine the sequences of the three billion chemical base pairs that make up human DNA, store this information in databases, improve tools for data analysis, transfer related technologies to the private sector, and address the ethical, legal, and social issues that may arise from the project. In favor of achieving these goals, scientists studied the genetic makeup of several nonhuman organisms (Human Genome Management Information System, 2011).

The Human Genome Project basically was a research program that worked on a goal to get an image of human genome and get a better understanding of all a human beings genes. DNA is founded on 4 chemical bases, they turn into twisted ladder shaped DNA molecules. And all the the four bases are what create the genes just placed in different ways and different lengths. One revelation of the human genome project was when they learned that there are about 20,500 genes. The Human Genome Project brought many scientist together around the world and each one was an important factor for the project. It was a publicly funded organization and got funds and support from the Department of Energy and US National Institutes of Health

To begin discussion about the HGP, we first must understand what it is. It is a massive undertaking of collaboration of geneticists that begin in 1990. Their goals are to identify all the estimated 80,000 to 100,000 genes in human DNA and determine the sequences of 3 billion

Ten years ago researchers from the U.S., Britain, France, Germany, Japan and China sat down and began developing the most important map ever made. Instead of roads and landmarks, this was a map of letters. It was “a rough map of the 3 billion letters of genetic instructions that make us who [we] are” (“First”). On Monday, 26 June 2000, the researchers announced that the map of the human genome was complete.     

This has directly lead to the cost of genome sequencing to sharp decline. Before the project the cost to map out a human genome was one billion dollars, after the project was completed it had to decline to ten to 50 million dollars. Now, ten years after the completion of the Human Genome Project the cost to map out a human genome is only three to five thousand dollars. ("Quantitative Advances Since the Human Genome Project (HGP)") This number is predicted to keep declining as well, in part because of company competition and the increase popularity of genetic mapping. Another reason is because the National Human Genome Research Institute has new goals to expand the use of genetic mapping which includes finding ways to lower the cost of genome sequencing to less than a thousand dollars. It would be a huge feat but a goal the Institute could manage to realize in the next ten years. ("Decade of Genomics NHGRI Celebrates 10th Anniversary")

Compared to just fifteen years ago the applications and horizons of genetic science have expanded enormously, far beyond simply describing how DNA contributes to the formation of life here on earth. The most important practical advances have built on the completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003, started in 1990. At the associated research cost of over $3 billion US dollars (c.$2.7 billion actual), a combined research initiative succeeded in fully sequencing the genomic makeup of one human.