Henrietta Lack’s cells have a long and rich history that span the study of genetics. She has been a part of thousands of research projects with the hope that her cells can make a difference. One project that has used her cells in its work is the Human Genome Project. This multinational, government driven idea wanted to discover the inner-workings of the human body and how humans differ from each other by sequencing the human genome. The genome is the “instruction manual” that is “written” in the language of DNA. To sequence DNA the scientist had to create a complete map of all the genes in the human body which includes every base pair. A daunting task considering that “…The human genome contained about 3 billion base pairs…” (“Human Genome
…show more content…
The project was first conceived in 1984 by Robert Sinsheimer who gathered researchers together to consider the idea of mapping the human genome. In 1985, Renato Dulbecco proposed a similar project to investigate the origins of cancerous cells. However, the project was not started until 1988 when it was funded by the Department of Energy and the National Institute of Health (NIH). Those involved came from various organizations with headquarters in France, the United Kingdom, the USSR, Italy, Japan, Canada, parts of Latin America, and The United States. By 1991 other companies joined the effort to sequence the human genome, creating pockets of researchers rather than one large group. In 1995 J. Craig Venter and his team successfully sequenced Haemophilus influenza, an important feat considering it was the first free-living organism to have its genome sequenced. In 1998 Venter left the original project started by the NIH and claimed that he could sequence the human genome quicker and cheaper. This led to a competition between Venter’s company, Celera Genomics, and the International Consortium, which was the collection of various countries and companies that first joined the project. However, both groups presented their results to President Clinton in June of 2000, ending the genome race in a …show more content…
As one excerpt from the Encyclopedia of Race and Racism stated “It (The Human Genome Project) certainly sped the work of researchers seeking to identify genes and develop drugs, and gave clinicians test for more single-gene disorders” (Lewis, Rikki. “Human Genome Project”). The results of the project also allow anyone to discover their personal genome. Companies like 23andme, AncestryDNA, and Living DNA now are able test genes and uncover the ethnicity and genealogy of their consumers. Another positive result is that there is not one human genome, but all humans are simply variations when it comes to the combination of the base pairs. With this new knowledge, researchers have continued to study human diversity, or the lack thereof, further by creating the International Human Haplotype Map Project. This project “…catalogued single-base sites throughout the genome where more than 1 percent of a population has a variant” (Lewis, Rikki. “Human Genome Project”). Due to this project, there have been advances in medicine, and may help dissolve racism since both projects show no physical evidence of different
The project was first conceived in 1984 by Robert Sinsheimer who gathered researchers together to consider the idea of mapping the human genome. In 1985, Renato Dulbecco proposed a similar project to investigate the origins of cancerous cells. However, the project was not started until 1988 when it was funded by the Department of Energy and the National Institute of Health (NIH). Those involved came from various organizations with headquarters in France, the United Kingdom, the USSR, Italy, Japan, Canada, parts of Latin America, and The United States. By 1991 other companies joined the effort to sequence the human genome, creating pockets of researchers rather than one large group. In 1995 J. Craig Venter and his team successfully sequenced Haemophilus influenza, an important feat considering it was the first free-living organism to have its genome sequenced. In 1998 Venter left the original project started by the NIH and claimed that he could sequence the human genome quicker and cheaper. This led to a competition between Venter’s company, Celera Genomics, and the International Consortium, which was the collection of various countries and companies that first joined the project. However, both groups presented their results to President Clinton in June of 2000, ending the genome race in a …show more content…
As one excerpt from the Encyclopedia of Race and Racism stated “It (The Human Genome Project) certainly sped the work of researchers seeking to identify genes and develop drugs, and gave clinicians test for more single-gene disorders” (Lewis, Rikki. “Human Genome Project”). The results of the project also allow anyone to discover their personal genome. Companies like 23andme, AncestryDNA, and Living DNA now are able test genes and uncover the ethnicity and genealogy of their consumers. Another positive result is that there is not one human genome, but all humans are simply variations when it comes to the combination of the base pairs. With this new knowledge, researchers have continued to study human diversity, or the lack thereof, further by creating the International Human Haplotype Map Project. This project “…catalogued single-base sites throughout the genome where more than 1 percent of a population has a variant” (Lewis, Rikki. “Human Genome Project”). Due to this project, there have been advances in medicine, and may help dissolve racism since both projects show no physical evidence of different