What was the Human Genome Project and why has it been important?

The Human Genome Project was an international research effort to determine the sequence of the human genome and identify the genes that it contains. The Project was coordinated by the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Department of Energy. Additional contributors included universities across the United States and international partners in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan, and China. The Human Genome Project formally began in 1990 and was completed in 2003, 2 years ahead of its original schedule.

The work of the Human Genome Project has allowed researchers to begin to understand the blueprint for building a person. As researchers learn more about the functions of genes and proteins, this knowledge will have a major impact in the fields of medicine, biotechnology, and the life sciences.

For more information about the Human Genome Project:

The National Human Genome Research Institute offers a fact sheet about the Human Genome Project and a list of frequently asked questions. Additionally, the booklet From the Blueprint to You provides an overview of the project.

A brief description of the Project and links to many additional resources are available from the Human Genome Project Information web site, a service of the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science. The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science also provides a fact sheet called Potential Benefits of Human Genome Project Research.

An overview of the Human Genome Project is available from the Centre for Genetics Education.

Next: What were the goals of the Human Genome Project?