The Human Genome Project: Scientific Promise and Social Problems

Summary: Standard human genome project spiel before the project finished

Interestingness: 1 now, but it would have been exciting back then

Paper by Paul H Silverman in the Journal of Anti-Aging Medicine, Volume 1, Issue 2, summer 1998.

(((This paper seems very old now. The genome project got a lot of coverage in the intervening 12 years, and we've read the contents of this paper another hundred times)))

We'll finish the human genome project by 2005 (((ha))). Many diseases related to aging have genetic risk factors, but genes only account for about 35% of life span variance.

Mutations in a gene in C Elegans double their normal life span. That gene (daf-2) is the homolog of the human insulin and insulinlike growth factor. Maybe the system is conserved.

Genetic diagnosis of diseases will be awesome. Already used for IVF to filter out cystic fibrosis.

Genetic therapy will also be awesome, and there are a hundred human trials underway. (((and then that dude died)))

Lots of legal and ethical issues to be sorted (((etc)))

Abstract follows:

The Human Genome Project, initiated in 1990, has progressed rapidly in the development of sequencing and bioinformatic technology. It is anticipated that the 3 billion nucleotide sequence of the human genome will be completed by 2005. In the meantime, new genes and their function are being identified, leading to the new field of functional genomics. The genomic information has stimulated the development of commercial firms focused on diagnostics and on gene therapy. Many diseases, including cancer, genetic disorders and some infectious diseases, are being treated with gene therapy in human trials. The predictive quality of DNA diagnostics is raising concerns about third party coverage for pre-existing conditions.