Despite the ethical uncertainties and technical challenges ahead, the 10-year effort to unlock the mystery of our biological essence is being hailed as one of the greatest scientific undertakings of all time. The race to sequence the human genome pitted the international, public consortium against the private, upstart laboratory. The competition ended in a draw, with both sides announcing that they had finished rough drafts of the human genome at press conferences in Washington and London on June 26. Collins heads the Human Genome Project, a consortium of 1,100 scientists from four large genetic centers in the United States, the Sanger Center near Cambridge, England, and labs in France, Germany, China and Japan. Some tasks still have to be done by hand.
Researchers transfer DNA on the plate to pipettes where it replicates, making it easier to sequence.
Researchers used powerful computers to sort through the 3 billion bits of DNA contained in every human cell to identify the 30,000-40,000 genes genes that determine our inherited physical traits and many of our behaviors. Now that the human genome has apparently been sequenced, scientists can use the information to try to decode the set of instructions contained in each gene. Venter said his private laboratory has completed its own gene-sequencing project simultaneously with the Human Genome Project. Conditions that we know have genetic contributions but which have been rather difficult to nail down, this set of power tools that the genome project is producing will accelerate this discovery process rather dramatically. I have never, ever been so excited at the rate of change we're experiencing in biology.