Human Genome Project, How Does It Contribute to The Advancement of Medicine?
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What Exactly is the Human Genome Project?
The sum of all our genes is known as our “genome.” The Human Genome Project is an international collaboration whose aim was to map all of the genes of humans.
Primary Objective of the Human Genome Project
The Human Genome Project was a joint venture between the National Institutes of Health and the United States Energy Department, which was hailed as one of humanity’s greatest accomplishments. This project’s objective is to determine the sequence of nucleotide base pairs in human DNA.
Biotechnology and the Human Genome Project
The researchers announced in April 2003 that the entire human genome had been sequenced as preliminary work. This research has helped many biotechnological consulting firms to begin the research on understanding how people are built. The discovery of how genes and proteins function has aided researchers in identifying diseases caused by certain genes.
HGP and Its Main Agenda
In 1988, the National Academy of Sciences formed a special committee to formulate the goals of the Human Genome Project. These goals were subsequently formalized in five-year plans jointly developed by the NIH and DOE. Both government agencies were funded by Congress to further explore this concept. Later, an MOU was signed for “coordination of human genome research and technical activities.”
NIH component director James Watson was appointed to head the Human Genome Research Office. Within a year, the Human Genome Research Facility became the National Center for Human Genome Research.
During the first planning stage in 1990, a joint research plan called Understanding Our Genetic Inheritance: The Human Genome Project, The First Five Years, 1991-1995, was published. This initial plan outlined specific objectives for the first five years of a 15-year research program.
In three ways, the human genome was decoded by HGP researchers.
1- Finding out the order of all the bases in DNA
2- Making a map showing where genes are located on major chromosome sections
3- Generating linkage maps, which track inherited traits (such as those related to genetic disease) over generations.
What is the Progress So Far?
In the present day, established standard chemotherapy treatments are toxic to healthy cells. To minimize damage to healthy tissue, targeted cancer therapies act by either interfering with the function of specific molecules or by targeting only cancerous cells.
Many top life science consulting firms are adhering to ideas that can promote research methodologies. It is expected that in the future, treatment may be individualized based on the molecular targets that the individual tumor produces.
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