Human Genome Project

The HGP outlined several targeted goals to better assist scientists in understanding the human genome. One goal was to identify the estimated 30,000 genes. Because it is estimated that there are roughly 3.9 billion nucleotide bases that makeup the human genome, identifying ways to store this information on publicly accessible databases was an important HGP goal and a challenge to computational biologists. Another goal was to improve analytical tools related to data acquisition so that sequences of the human genome could be compared to sequences from a database that includes gene sequence information from many different organisms. With only a small percentage of the human genome comprised of genes, another goal was to determine the entire DNA sequence of the human genome, including sequences that are interspersed between genes. Finally, the last objective was to address the inevitable ethical, legal, and social implications (ELSI) of having access to an individual's genetic information. This component of the HGP was strongly urged due to the nature of the information that would become available and the potential for negative impacts related to using this information inappropriately.