The Human Genome Project and the future of medicine
M. S. Guyer and F. S. Collins
National Center for Human Genome Research, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md. 20892.
The Human Genome Project is an international research effort the goal of
which is to analyze the structure of human DNA and to determine the
location of the estimated 100,000 human genes. Another component of the
program is to analyze the DNA of a set of nonhuman model organisms to
provide comparative information that is essential for understanding how the
human genome functions. The project began formally in 1990. In this report,
we summarize the rapid progress that has already been made; the impact that
the resources already developed by the Human Genome Project have had on the
ability of investigators to identify and isolate human genes, particularly
those associated with disease; and the promise that the project offers for
profoundly altering our approach to medical care, from one of treatment of
advanced disease to prevention based on the identification of individual
risk.
