Researchers from the 20 genome centers in the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium including the Institute for Systems Biology, have published in the Oct. 21 issue of the scientific journal Nature, the description of the completion of the Human Genome Project. This 13 year effort decoded the set of instructions that specify human development; that is, how each of us started as a single cell and how each of us has progressed to an adult human composed of a hundred trillion cells of thousands of different types (e.g., muscle cells, brain cells, etc.).

“This revolutionary undertaking, started in 1990 and completed in 2003, has given us a genetics parts list which will provide a cornerstone for biomedical research in the 21st century — by enabling systems biology,” stated Dr. Leroy Hood, president of the Institute for Systems Biology. “Additionally, it has driven the development of yet more tools and techniques for acquiring, analyzing, and modeling biological information. These are all key aspects of the practice of systems biology, which will transform biology and medicine and ultimately enable us to unravel the mysteries of human disease.”

The development of instruments for synthesizing and sequencing DNA and proteins by Dr. Leroy Hood and his colleagues at the California Institute of Technology provided the technological foundation for modern biology and the automated DNA sequencer made possible the human genome project. Hood was also one of the early advocates for the genome project and in 1990 his laboratory at Caltech was awarded a pilot grant from the United States Department of Energy to prove the feasibility of large scale mammalian sequencing.

In 1992, Hood was recruited to the University of Washington to chair the first cross disciplinary department in biology and in that capacity he directed one of the major genome centers, responsible for mapping significant components of chromosomes 14 and 15. The center moved in 2000 from the University to Hood’s laboratory at the Institute for Systems Biology, which he co-founded.

“The finished human genome is a gift to researchers, as they no longer have to worry about whether the sequence is correct and they can now spend their time and resources figuring out how the information encoded within the DNA is used to produce the complex human beings that we are,” stated Dr. Lee Rowen, ISB senior scientist and lead researcher on the human genome project at ISB

Tags:Human Genome | Institute for Systems Biology