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Ban on Genetic Discrimination in Workplace
In 1995, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), issued a modification on the definition of "disability". It stated that the ADA would protect individuals subjected to discrimination on the "basis of genetic information relating to illness, disease or other disorders". -
Physical Map of Human Genome Completed
A physical map uses sequence-tagged sites (STSs) as markers to order large segments of DNA. One of the goals of the HGP was to complete a physical map with a marker every 100,000 base pairs by 1998. The map built by 1995 was a significant milestone toward that goal; it contained 15,086 STSs, spaced an average of 199,000 base pairs apart. -
Human Gene Map Created
Scientists created a map showing the locations of ESTs (expressed sequence tags) representing fragments of more than 16,000 genes from throughout the genome. -
Human DNA Sequence Begins
In 1996, the National Human Genome Research Institute funded pilot projects to find efficient strategies for completely sequencing the human genome. The pilot projects tested the feasibility of large-scale sequencing, and explored how accurate and how costly alternative approaches might be. -
International Strategy Meeting on Human Genome Sequencing
The first international strategy meeting on human genome sequencing drew scientists from the countries in Europe, North America, and Asia funding human genome sequencing projects. The scientists gathered to compare sequencing strategies and to discuss guidelines for data release. The attendees agreed that all human sequence data they produce should be made freely available to the public. -
Recommendations on Genetic Testing
A Task Force on Genetic Testing was created by the NIH-DOE Working Group on Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications of Human Genome Research to review genetic testing in the United States and make recommendations to ensure the development of safe and effective genetic tests. -
HGP Map Included 30,000 Human Genes
In October 1998, HGP researchers released a gene map that included 30,000 human genes, estimated to represent approximately one-third of the total human genes. -
Genome of Roundworm C. elegans Sequenced
In December 1998, the first genome sequence of a multicellular organism, the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans, was completed. -
Full-scale Human Genome Sequencing
In March 1999, HGP participants advanced their goal of obtaining draft sequence covering 90 percent of the human genome to 2000, a year and a half before projected previously. Full-scale human genome sequencing began. -
Chromosome 22
In December 1999, the HGP completed the first finished, full-length sequence of a human chromosome - chromosome 22. This accomplishment demonstrated the power of the HGP method of clone-by-clone sequencing to obtain large amounts of highly accurate sequence. In the clone-by-clone approach, clones of human DNA, such as bacterial artificial chromosomes (BACs), that have a precisely known location on a physical map are the starting points for DNA sequencing -
Free Access to Genomic Information
In March 2000, U.S. President Clinton and U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair stated that raw, fundamental data about human genome sequence and its variations should be freely available. -
First Draft of the Human Genome Sequence Released
The Human Genome Project international consortium published a first draft and initial analysis of the human genome sequence. The draft sequence covered more than 90 percent of the human genome. -
Researchers Find Genetic Variation Associated with Prostate Cancer
Researchers identified a gene on chromosome 1 associated with a hereditary form of prostate cancer. The work was a collaboration between researchers at the National Human Genome Research Institute, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, and The Cleveland Clinic. Previously, the researchers had studied families with high risks for prostate cancer and identified regions of chromosomes 1, 17, 20, and X as being associated with the higher risk. -
Human Genome Project Completed
The International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium announced the successful completion of the Human Genome Project more than two years ahead of schedule and under budget. The primary goal of the project was to produce a reference sequence of the human genome. -
Fiftieth Anniversary of Watson and Crick's Description of the Double Helix
In April 1953, a paper appeared in the journal Nature that proposed a double helix structure for deoxyribose nucleic acid DNA. Determining the molecular structure of the gene was one of the most significant achievements in all of science. -
The First National DNA Day Celebrated
The United States Congress passed a resolution setting aside April 25th as National DNA Day. The date was chosen to mark the 50th anniversary of the publication of the landmark paper by Francis Crick and James Watson describing the double helix model of DNA and the recent official completion of the Human Genome Project. -
U.S. Surgeon General Urges Americans To Know Their Family Health History
Washington - Tues., Nov. 15, 2005 - Calling on all Americans to "know their family history," U.S. Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona, M.D., M.P.H., today unveiled an updated version of a computerized tool designed to help families gather their health information, and praised Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston for joining in to expand the Surgeon General's Family Health Initiative. -
About Studying the Environmental Impact
While genetics plays a major role in understanding the cause of human disease, genes alone are not the whole story. Differences in our genetic makeup certainly influence our risk of developing various illnesses. We only have to look at family medical histories to know that is true some diseases are clearly more common in families than in unrelated persons. But whether a genetic predisposition actually makes a person sick depends on the interaction between genes and the environment.
