#182 Eric Green on the Complete Human Genome Project

On this week’s episode of DNA Today we’re discussing the past, present, and future of the Human Genome Project and the Telomere to Telomere Consortium with Dr. Eric Green, director of the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) at the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The Human Genome Project is an international scientific research project that began in 1990, with the goal of determining the base pairs that make up human DNA, and identifying, mapping, and sequencing all of the genes of the human genome; however, no one chromosome has yet been finished end to end, and hundreds of gaps persist across the genome. The Telomere to Telomere (T2T) Consortium is an open, community-based effort to generate the first complete assembly of a human genome, filling in these unresolved gaps.

Our guest today is Dr. Eric Green, the director of the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) at the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH). Throughout his career, Dr. Green has authored and co-authored over 375 scientific publications, a few of which we are chatting about today.

As NHGRI director, Dr. Green leads the Institute's research programs and other initiatives. He has played an instrumental leadership role in developing many high-profile efforts relevant to genomics. Dr. Green received his B.S. degree in bacteriology from the University of Wisconsin - Madison in 1981, and his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from Washington University in 1987. Coincidentally, 1987 was the same year that the word “genomics” was coined. Dr. Green’s relationship with the Institute began long before his appointment as director. He served as the Institute’s scientific director (2002 - 2009), chief of the NHGRI Genome Technology Branch (1996 - 2009) and founding director of the NIH Intramural Sequencing Center (1997 - 2009). Prior to that, he played an integral role in the Human Genome Project. Throughout his career, Dr. Green has authored and co-authored over 375 scientific publications. Dr. Green is a founding editor of the journal Genome Research (1995 - present) and a series editor of Genome Analysis: A Laboratory Manual (1994 - 1998), both published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press. He is also co-editor of Annual Review of Genomics and Human Genetics (since 2005).

On This Episode We Discuss:

Dr. Green’s involvement in the Human Genome Project (HGP)

The first chromosome to be completely sequenced

When the human genome sequence was completed

The Telomere to Telomere (T2T) Consortium

What made the last 10% of the human genome difficult to sequence

How many genomes were studied for the HGP

How the fully complete genome sequence impacts people

The NIH’s All of Us Reacher Program

Learn more about the Human Genome Project and what we talked about on this episode at genome.gov. If this episode piqued your interest, check out the articles below to learn about the most recent advancements in the Human Genome Project, and the work of the T2T Consortium.

https://www.genome.gov/about-nhgri/Director/genomics-landscape/april-7-2022-the-human-genome-sequence-is-now-complete

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/completing-the-human-genome-sequence-again/

https://www.genome.gov/10000666/1997-news-release-pendred-syndrome-gene

Be sure to follow Dr. Green and the National Human Genome Research Institute on Twitter to stay up to date on the latest human genome research news and announcements!

Stay tuned for the next new episode of DNA Today on May 6, 2022 where we’ll continue discussing the Human Genome Project and the Telomere to Telomere Consortium with Drs. Miga and Philippy. New episodes are released on Fridays. In the meantime, you can binge over 180 other episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, streaming on the website, or any other podcast player by searching, “DNA Today”. Episodes since 2021 are also recorded with video which you can watch on our YouTube channel.

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