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The Human Genome Project

“Science is essentially a cultural activity. It generates pure

knowledge about ourselves and about the universe we live in,

knowledge that continually reshapes our thinking” [1] [John

Sulston]

In 1953 James Watson and Francis Crick discovered the structure

of DNA - the code of instructions for all life on earth...

...in 2003 - just 50 years later - humankind had developed and exploited the technology, the

computing capability and the financial and social impetus to record one whole human DNA sequence:

some 3 billion letters of genetic code.

Introduction

The Human Genome Project: a new reality

In June 1985, as dusk encroached on the second millennium, meetings aimed at outlining the

practical task of sequencing the human genome began at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

The scientific and technological conditions of the 1980s had become a catalyst for these discussions.

DNA cloning and Fred Sanger’s sequencing methods, developed in the mid- to late 1970s, were

being exploited by scientists who felt that sequencing the human genome seemed possible at an

experimental level. Crucially, researchers were, at the same time, beginning to apply computing

solutions to genetics and DNA sequencing, developing methods that would make feasible the task of

generating and handling genetic data globally.

This grand, new concept - a “Human Genome Project” - had strong supporters, who argued that

deciphering the human genome would lead to new understanding and benefits for human health as

well as and determined detractors, who feared such a project would provide a product that would

bear little explanatory power for humans - perhaps merely a meaningless string of letters. Even

before the Human Genome Project began in earnest, some commentators feared that this project had

“engendered a controversy... that involves personalities and politics.” [2]

The personalities, the politics and the controversy were only just emerging....