Human Genome Project

Two developments of DNA research in the 1980's would lead to sequencing the entire human genome. Previously, only very simple genes had been sequenced and to do more required large amounts of labor and time. The technique called polymerase chain reaction (PCR) which enabled many copies of DNA sequence to be produced, and an automated method of sequencing developed by Frederick Sanger in 1977 led researchers to believe that sequencing the entire Genome would be possible. Having such a map would free researchers from the tedious and inefficient task of finding genes by isolated individual effort.

Starting out as an academic pursuit, a public consortium was joined by a private effort at Celera Genomics and a race to finish the project ensued. The project involved first finding unique genetic markers, breaking the DNA into much smaller bits which were then sequenced and then, using the markers as a guide, reassembled. The use of computers and automated sequencers greatly speeded up the process by a thousand fold. In June of 2000, the completion of the draft sequence was announced by the leaders of the public and private projects.