How The Human Genome Project Has Changed The World

Imagine a world where diseases no longer exist. No longer would loved ones pass away from cancer or Alzheimer's, simply a world where people live healthy lives free of disease. Of course, people would still be the victims of crimes, car accidents, overdoses, war, and natural causes of death, but no one would have to suffer through the chronic pain of a terminal illness. Although this seems unlikely, the Human Genome Project is advancing research into gene function, which has impacted our understanding of disease and illness. Research from this project has led to the groundbreaking discoveries about the human body that have changed the world.

To begin, the discoveries of the Human Genome Project date back to Gregor Mendel in 1865. Mendel used

The project was initiated by a researcher named Renato Dulbecco. Dulbecco was a virologist and molecular geneticist who spoke and wrote about the importance of molecular genetics. Before the Huntington gene was eradicated in 1993, Dulbecco published a paper that argued the importance of studying the human genome. By 1990, issues related to radiation and chemical exposure from the Vietnam War had increased. For this reason, the United States Department of Energy (DOE) began to consider the project’s importance. The DOE published a five year plan for the project to occur. The project was expected to last fifteen years and would develop technology for analyzing DNA (“A Brief History From Mendel to The Human Genome Project”). However, thirteen years later, the project was announced to be complete. The technology at this time was developing faster than expected. Evidently, “genetic knowledge was needed to determinate the resiliency of the human genome” (Boehm, David). As members of the DOE began to formulate a plan for the project, many goals were

As a result, scientist were able to determine the location of various human genes. Not only did the project sequence human genomes but it also sequenced the genomes of several other organisms. By using the final results, researchers could decipher which genes are critical for life (What Is a Genome?). Another goal of the research team was to produce a variety of physical maps of all human chromosomes and DNA of a specific organism. This would ensure that a selected organism would obtain enough information on the map about its DNA that investigators could access the information at any point for further analysis. Finally, the usage of computer science was necessary to accomplish the main goal of constructing an accurate sequence that make up the human genome. Various members of the project designed and programmed multiple ways to map the genome (Boehm, David). Throughout the experiments and evaluations, various forms of error