The changing landscape of genomic technologies

This video looks at how various technologies have impacted on medicine over the last 60 years.

Talking point

During the video, we learnt that, in 1998, a private company run by Craig Venter, initially called the Institute of Genomic Research and later renamed Celera Genomics, announced that they were working to sequence the human genome.

Celera Genomics planned only to make the information from their sequencing available to paying customers with a plan to patent 6000 genes. Celera was in direct competition with the Human Genome Project, an international consortium working to make genomic data freely available online.

As it turned out, both Celera and the Human Genome Project published their draft human genome sequences in 2000.

• Let us know what you think about the race to the human genome. Can you imagine a world where the human genome sequence is privately owned? How would this have shaped medicine today?
• Some people suggest that the competition was a good thing – accelerating discovery. What do you think?

Do you want to know more?

If you’re interested to read more about the race to decipher the human genome, check out this story on the YourGenome website.