Human Genome Project (HGP)

In the 1950s, three groups made it their goal to determine the structure of DNA. The first group to start was at King's College London and was led by Maurice Wilkins and was later joined by Rosalind Franklin. Another group consisting of Francis Crick and James D. Watson was at Cambridge. A third group was at Caltech and was led by Linus Pauling. We have recently celebrated 60 years from the pioneering discovery of the Double Helix Structure (1953) announcing a series of articles in last year’s editorial of this Journal. In 2003, coinciding with the 50^thanniversary of this momentous achievement in biology and the description of the DNA double helix was also the year that NHGRI celebrated the historic culmination of one of the most important scientific projects in history: the sequencing of the human genome.

The Human Genome Project (HGP) [1] was an international scientific research project with the goal of determining the sequence of chemical base pairs which make up human DNA, and of identifying and mapping all of the genes of the human genome from both a physical and functional standpoint. It remains the world's largest collaborative biological project. The project was proposed and funded at least in its prime stages by the US government; the planning phase started in 1984 (30 years ago)[2,3] the project got underway in 1990, and was declared complete in 2003 immediately followed by the ENCODE project which now aims to identify all functional elements in the human genome plus the ‘junk’ DNA sequences. These projects involved a worldwide consortium of research groups, and data generated can be accessed through public databases.

It has been 30 years since the project planning of HGP has commenced, followed by ENCODE (and also GENCODE etc.) and the modern era of Human Molecular Genetics. As part of this year’s (2014) activities we would like to dedicate this issue’s editorial to the implications of the HGP which may lie ahead of us in the next 30 years to come (and anyway in the not so distant future): Tailored Medicine for Rare Genetic Diseases, Genome Surgery, Amelioration of Inherited Genetic Disorders by Gene/Cell Therapy and other Disruptive Technologies, Epigenetics, Big Data, Omics Technologies (Genomics, Transciptomics, Proteomics, Metabolomics) but also the Ethical concerns, insurance policies and considerations which bring along, may only form the tip of an iceberg in a Genetic Revolution [4].

Citation: Takis A (2014) Celebrating 30 Years since the Conception of the Human Genome Project (HGP): New Concepts Ahead-Molecular Biology Tools to Efficiently Modify the HG and/or Other Species-Genomes-Implications for Health and Disease. Mol Biol 3:e119. doi: 10.4172/2168-9547.1000e119

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