Twenty years ago, President Bill Clinton announced completion of what was arguably one of the greatest advances of the modern era: the first draft sequence of the human genome.
"Without a doubt, this is the most important, the most wondrous map ever produced by humankind," Clinton said on June 26, 2000 from the White House, predicting that genome science "will revolutionize the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of most, if not all, human diseases." In the future, he said, "doctors will increasingly be able to cure diseases like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, diabetes, and cancer by attacking their genetic roots."
And indeed, the sequencing of the human genome — achieved simultaneously by the Human Genome Project (HGP), an international consortium begun in 1990 and led by Francis Collins, MD, then director of the National Human Genome Research Institute, and by J. Craig Venter, PhD, with his team at the privately held Celera Genomics — has revolutionized the approach to human health.
President Bill Clinton is flanked by Dr J. Craig Venter (left) and Dr Francis Collins announcing the first draft sequence of the human genome in June 2000.
Although the unbridled optimism of 20 years ago has not been matched with success in every quarter, much of the promise has begun to be realized.
