Private Industry Tackles Human Genome Project

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.