Interviews

Amber Ratcliffe
Human Genome Project research, chromosome 14
University of Washington, Lee Hood Lab
E-mail: amberr@u.washington.edu

What does your research entail?

We are currently sequencing a small portion of chromosome 14. We use several different tools of molecular biology to complete our task. Engineered plasmids, E. coli transformation, agarose gels, PCR (polymerase chain reaction), and acrylamide gel electrophoresis are all major tools which we employ. This is a huge project that takes thousands of people working together around the world to complete this project. The large amounts of data generated require us to have many computers with huge amounts of memory.

Why is your research so important?

Our research is enabling other scientists around the world to navigate the genome in search of genes they are exploring. We are providing the road map of where genes are located and it is up to the other scientists to figure out what their function is in the human body. Once a gene has been sequenced we can begin to discover ways to use that knowledge to better society through gene therapies. The genome project also enables scientists to perform polymorphism studies to see what different copies of the same gene do in different people.

How did you get involved with researching chromosome 14?

I personally became involved when I graduated from college with a biochemistry degree. My first job was as a sequencing technician isolating engineered plasmids and doing PCR sequencing reactions on them. I am now the production manager of the sequencing group and I help decide what needs to be sequenced next and how to do enormous amounts of work with only a few people. Thousands of samples are prepared and stored both in cold storage and in databases. Determining how to keep track of everything is a full time job.

What are your career goals?

I hope to continue on the path to management. The human genome project will be finished in a few years and other organisms will be sequenced. I think that this field is going to be huge in coming years as costs come down and technology gets better. We have a whole range of organisms we could engineer to perform useful functions for us as a society.

About how many genes exist in chromosome 14?

We don't know exactly how many genes are in chromosome 14. Based on estimates for the gene content of the entire genome we think that there are probably between 1500-3000 genes. Some of the important genes we have found are presenilin which has to do with early onset of Alzheimer's disease and neurexin III which is believed to be involved with neurological pathways.

How many Nucleotide base pairs?

There are 90-100 million base pairs in chromosome 14 which is approximately 3% of the total genome which is estimated to be 3 gigabases.

What is the significance of chromosome 14 in the human body?

There are immune receptor genes and immunoglobulins and also the genes previously mentioned. There are still many, many other genes that have yet to be discovered.

How long do you anticipate your research will last?

The grant funding for our work on the human genome project will continue for two more years; after that, who knows?

What is the Human Genome Project and why is it so important?

There are a ton of great web sites put out that can answer this question better than I. Here is one of them: www.nhgri.nih.gov/HGP

When will the entire human genome be completely mapped?

The NIH hopes that the rough draft will be complete by March of 2000. The complete final published copy will be finished 2003.

Who funds your research?

Our research is funded through the National Institute of Health (NIH).

Are you the only scientist involved in mapping chromosome 14?

The French are also undertaking a huge part of the chromosome. Our group here at the University of Washington Seattle Hood Lab has approximately 25 people involved.

Do you patent the gene sequences that you discover? Why or why not?

We do not patent our gene sequences. Not only is our research publicly funded, I think that all of us here believe that this information should belong to everyone. The sooner the information is public the greater number of people around the world can start to use it to further their research. If only a few individual people have the information then it keeps others from working independently on similar goals.

Amber Ratcliffe
E-mail: amberr@u.washington.edu