The Human Genome Project Aims for 2003

Bold is the operative word for the goals in the new five-year plan for the U.S. Human Genome Project as presented at the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) advisory council meeting on September 14, 1998. (See Box 1 for an overview of the 5-year plan. The complete plan is published in the October 23, 1998 issue of Science.) The plan itself includes such words as “ambitious” and even “audacious,” reflecting the committee’s own perception that the agenda is one that will require extreme diligence and effort to achieve. The most notable point is the call for the completion of the human genome sequence in the year 2003—a full 2 years earlier than originally planned and corresponding to the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the double helix structure of DNA (Watson and Crick 1953).

The proposal was approved by the NHGRI council and by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE); human genome project research in the U.S. is sponsored jointly by the NHGRI at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Office of Biological Environmental Research at the DOE. Approximately two-thirds of the human genome sequence is estimated to be completed by NIH- and DOE-funded projects and the remainder by international Wellcome Trust-funded projects.

In addition to the new time frame for the completion of the human genome sequence, the plan also covers new agendas for the (often overlooked) wide range of other areas embraced under the heading of the Human Genome Project. New plans are in effect for supporting and developing novel technology (from sequencing hardware to computer software); setting goals for model organisms; devising genomic resources, such as cDNA libraries, for the broader biological community; educating and establishing new resources in manpower; and continuing programs to …