Human Genome Project Fact Sheet

A special committee of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences outlined the original goals for the Human Genome Project in 1988, which included sequencing the entire human genome in addition to the genomes of several carefully selected non-human organisms.

Eventually the list of organisms came to include the bacterium E. coli, bakers yeast, fruit fly, nematode and mouse. The projects architects and participants hoped the resulting information would usher in a new era for biomedical research, and its goals and related strategic plans were updated periodically throughout the project.

In part due to a deliberate focus on technology development, the Human Genome Project ultimately exceeded its initial set of goals, doing so by 2003, two years ahead of its originally projected 2005 completion. Many of the projects achievements were beyond what scientists thought possible in 1988.

President Bill Clinton and Francis Collins, M.D., Ph.D., (NHGRI Director) at a June 2000 event at the White House celebrating the draft human genome sequence generated by the Human Genome Project. Dr. Collins served as the de facto leader of the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium, the group that sequenced the human genome during the Human Genome Project. (NHGRI Photo Archive)

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Human Genome Project Fact Sheet