The Human Genome at Ten

From Nature

Nearly a decade on from the completion of the draft sequence of the human genome, researchers should work with the same intensity and focus to apply the results to health.

The race to complete the first human genome sequence had everything a story needs to keep its audience enthralled — right down to a neck-and-neck sprint for the finish by two fierce rivals. In the end, the result was basically a tie. The rivals — the international, publicly funded Human Genome Project and the private, for-profit company Celera Genomics then based in Rockville, Maryland — jointly announced the completion of their draft sequences in June 2000 at a gala televised press conference attended by US President Bill Clinton and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair.

The White House press statement articulated the hope, felt by many, that this landmark achievement would “lead to a new era of molecular medicine, an era that will bring new ways to prevent, diagnose, treat and cure disease”.

This issue of Nature takes a look at the next chapter in the story — the first post-genome decade — then asks how the tale might unfold in the years to come.

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