It will initially concentrate on the comparison of gene clusters expressed in the region within the brain responsible for speech and language. This project will help us to identify genes that are distinctive of humans and linked to the intellectual capacity of humans. The project will initially focus on genetic comparison, but a behavioural component may be added.
Japan has a rich tradition of ethological research on primates.
Although work on the chimpanzee genome has barely begun, scientists think that experience in sequencing the human genome can be replicated without much problem in the case of chimpanzees. At a recent meeting of the international advisory board of the GSC, board members expressed concern that the centre's ample facilities and resources had not been made available to outside scientists. Both the GSC and the BSI are the result of a shift towards priority-based funding that has gained momentum since the early 1990s. So far, it has not proved easy to integrate the new centres into the diverse landscape of Japanese public research. According to its director, Masao Ito, the BSI provides small seed funding grants for cooperation with scientists outside the centre.