By Eve Herold –
In a time of huge cuts to U.S. research, the Human Genome Project stands as a stunning example of progress in biomedical research and medicine. On June 26, 2000, President Clinton, flanked by J. Craig Venter of Celera Genomics and NIH director Francis Collins, announced the completion of the first draft of the HGP from the oval office. It’s almost impossible to overestimate the fundamental shift in research and medicine since this watershed event. The knowledge mined has opened the door to CRISPR, personalized diagnosis and treatments, and the rapid development of drugs and vaccines that have saved millions of lives worldwide. It has spawned a huge increase in the number of biotech companies and the vast array of research targets being studied. The current landscape would be impossible without the transformative effect of the HGP. Not only that, the economic return has been astronomical, according to Francis Collins, who estimates that the $3 billion investment of the U.S. spread out over 13 years, has stimulated $1 trillion in economic growth. The current issue of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News is devoted to assessing the fundamental effect of the HGP based on the reflections of Venter, Collins, and leaders of multiple biotech companies about the multifarious outcomes of decoding the human genome. While genomic analysis is still ongoing and has been dramatically boosted by AI, we have the moon-shot vision of the HGP to thank for catapulting us into a future where new diagnoses and treatments are possible.