Genomics by numbers: 6 key figures

Ahead of the course The Genomics Era: the Future of Genetics in Medicine we take a look at some of the key numbers, big and small, related to history of genomics.

2003

The year that the full human genome was published by the Human Genome Project. It was funded by organisations around the globe and the work was carried out by 20 different universities in seven different countries over 13 years!

$999

The amount Veritas Genetics announced in 2015 it’d cost to sequence your entire genome (remarkable given that it cost millions of dollars in 2003).

269

The approximate number of different animal species that we’d sequenced the genome of by 2015. It includes the electric eel, the ostrich and the coelacanth (the fish thought to be extinct but was rediscovered in the 1938).

22

The first human chromosome to be sequenced as part of the Human Genome Project was chromosome number 22, a human has 46 chromosomes in total.

$37,000,000

The amount of money the US National Institutes of Health and the Wellcome Trust have pledged to the African Society for Human Genetics as part of H3Africa. This project should mean African scientists can pass on the benefits of genetic research to African patients – it’s worth noting Africa is the most genetically diverse area in the world.

70,000

The number of people taking part in the 100,000 genomes project. These people are NHS patients with cancer or rare diseases, and their families. The project is due to finish in 2017.

Discover more about how genomics is being used across medicine join The Genomics Era: the Future of Genetics in Medicine