The Human Genome Project

Ashley OsborneQuesha McClanahan

Orchi Haghighi

Human Genome Project

The Human Genome Project (HGP) is a

genetic project designed to help us

push through the field of genetics to more

understand the how our bodies function

genetically

• The medical industry is building on the knowledge, resources, and technologies coming from the HGP to

further understanding of genetic help to human health.

• As a result of this expansion of genomics into human health use,the field of genomic medicine was born

• Genetics is playing an increasingly important role in the diagnosis, monitoring, and treatment of diseases.

HGP Continued..

HapMap• a catalog of common genetic variation, or haplotypes, in the

human genome.• Haplotypes are a combination of alleles (for different genes) that are

located closely together on the same

chromosome and that tend to be inherited

HapMap Cont..• data have accelerated the

search for genes involved in common human diseases, and have already yielded impressive results in finding genetic factors involved in conditions ranging from age-related blindness to obesity.

• In 2005 the development of the HapMap was one major step towards such comprehensive understanding of the human genome

History• Begun in 1990, the U.S.

Human Genome Project was a 13-year effort coordinated by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Institutes of Health.

• The project originally was planned to last 15 years, but rapid technological advances accelerated the completion date to 2003

Goals • identify all the approximately 20,000-25,000

genes in human DNA • determine the sequences of the 3 billion chemical

base pairs that make up human DNA• store this information in databases • improve tools for data analysis• transfer related technologies to the

private sector• address the ethical, legal, and social

issues (ELSI) that may arise from the project

Concerns

• Availabilty – Employers using

genetic information to discriminate over whom they will hire or when current employees will be laid off or forced into retirement

– 80-90% Americans believe their genetic information should be private & obtained or accessed only with their permission

• Rush to Patent Human Genes– the National

Institutes of Health, has made all its information freely available and intends to patent nothing.

– However, there are several patent requests pending on human genes from the time before the HGP was completed.

Medical Benefits

• There are many benefits with the Human Genome Project

• Disease Interventionexploration into the function of each human gene will shed light on how faulty genes play a role in disease causation. With this knowledge we can start developing medicines to help prevent the defect.

Diagnosing and Predicting Disease and Disease Susceptibility

• the successes of the HGP have even enabled researchers to pinpoint errors in genes the smallest units of heredity that cause or contribute to disease.

• The ultimate goal is to use this information to develop new ways to treat, cure, or even prevent the thousands of diseases that afflict humankind

Ethical & Legal Issues

• There are a lot of issues that come up when talking about the Human Genome Project and when figuring ways how to use it.

• Many people of our society are concerned about how this will affect people around us and if it could cause a new idea for gene racism

• Also there could be fighting over the use of a particular part of a gene and how it can or cannot be used.

• Who should have access to personal genetic information, and how will it be used?

• How do we prepare the public to make informed choices?

• Where is the line between medical treatment and enhancement?

• How does personal genetic information affect an individual and society's perceptions of that individual?

Then• Just a half-century ago very little was known

about the genetic factors that contribute to human disease.

• The Human Genome project spurred a revolution in biotechnology innovation around the world and played a key role in making the U.S. the global leader in the new biotechnology sector.

Now• The Human Genome Project has already fueled the

discovery of more than 1,800 disease genes. • As a result of the Human Genome Project, today’s

researchers can find a gene suspected of causing an inherited disease in a matter of days, rather than the years it took before the genome sequence was in hand.

• There are now more than 1,000 genetic tests for human conditions. These tests enable patients to learn their genetic risks for disease and also help healthcare professionals diagnose disease.

• At least 350 biotechnology-based products resulting from the Human Genome Project are currently in clinical trials.

• Having the complete sequence of the human genome is similar to having all the pages of a manual needed to make the human body. The challenge now is to determine how to read the contents of these pages and understand how all of these many, complex parts work together in human health and disease.

• The increasing ability to connect DNA variation with non-medical conditions, such as intelligence and personality traits, will challenge society, making the role of ethical, legal and social implications research more important than ever.

Other Sequenced Organisms

• 2004- Rattus norvegicus, the Brown Norway rat • 2002- Mus musculus, the mouse, and Fugu rubripes, the

Japanese pufferfish • 2000- Drosophila melanogaster, the fruit fly • 1998- Caenorhabditis elegans, a form of roundworm • 1998- Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium that causes

tuberculosis • 1997- Escherischia coli, a bacterium found in our colons and

used in much research • 1996- Methanococcus jannaschii, an organism that falls into a

previously unknown category of living organisms called archaea, which is distinct from prokaryotes (bacteria) and eukaryotes (plants, animals, and humans)

• 1995- Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a form of yeast • 1995- Haemophilus influenzae, a bacterium that causes

respiratory illness in humans (but is not to be confused with influenza viruses, which cause actual influenza, or flu)