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Dr. J. Craig Venter, president of the nonprofit
organization Institute for Genomic Sciences, and
Michael Hunkapiller, president of the Applied Biosystems
division of Perkin-Elmer Corporation, made a startling
announcement in the spring of 1998: they planned
to map the entire human genome in just three years
and for only $200 million. Then, in the fall of
1998, InCyte Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced they
expected to map most of the human genome in one
year.
The government-funded Human Genome Project is
7 1/2 years into its 15 year project (the goal is
to be completed in 2005), but has only mapped a
reported 3% of the human DNA sequence. The government
also plans to spend $3 billion on the project.
Dr. Venter and Hunkapiller believe that mapping
the human genome is entirely possible with a new
line of sequencing machines the Perkin-Elmer Corporation
will be making soon. The pair also said that they
plan to combine efforts with other companies and
the National Institute of Health, the government
branch directing the Human Genome Project, to accomplish
this goal.
Many worry that if the private team is successful,
Congress might cease funding the Human Genome Project,
and that private mapping of the human genome will
only invite capitalistic competition.
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