Note that in the Nature Network Boston report on Tuesday’s panel on the human genome project, Broad Institute chief Eric Lander says that journalists naively reported that the genome map would rapidly lead to cures for many diseases.    Lander sai... [More]

It is with great sadness that I announce that Paul Miller passed away today in Seattle after a long fight with Cancer.  Many of you know Paul as a tremendous advocate for disability rights who served two Presidents and was one of the longest serving commissioners of the EEOC.  He was... [More]

When the map of the human genome was presented to the world in 2001, psychiatrists had high hopes for it. Itemising all our genes would surely provide molecular evidence that the main cause of mental illness was genetic – something psychiatrists had long believed. Drug companies were wet... [More]

I recently received an email from a company called MyGeneProfile: "By discovering your child's inborn talents & personality traits, it can surely provide a great head start to groom your child in the right way ... our Inborn Talent Genetic Test has 99.8% accuracy." I'd registered to receiv... [More]

GeneWatch UK today condemned proposed voluntary guidelines for genetic tests as a dangerous sham. The guidelines, published today by the Human Genetics Commission, are a set of principles that the Government advisory body says companies selling gene tests to consumers should meet (1). Although... [More]

In a DER SPIEGEL interview, genetic scientist Craig Venter discusses the 10 years he spent sequencing the human genome, why we have learned so little from it a decade on and the potential for mass production of artificial life forms that could be used to produce fuels and other resources. &nb... [More]

Francis Collins, in a Scientific American guest blog, called genetic research "an epic drama being played out year after year." He said we shouldn't worry about what we haven't yet accomplished but see the galss as half full and "growing fuller every day." DNA sequencing costs are gettin... [More]

  Human genetic information must be kept in the public domain to allow researchers to analyse it and to give members of the public fair access to medical treatments, the Nobel prizewinning scientist who led the British contribution to the Human Genome Project said today. Speaking at a bri... [More]

In the ten years since the Human Genome Project was completed genomics has progressed in leaps and bounds, but surprisingly little has been about Africa or by African scientist. The vast majority of genomic studies have been of American, Asian and European genomes, with just one genome-wide a... [More]

Ten years ago the Human Genome Project announced it had completed the first draft of the blueprint for human life. It was hailed as a huge scientific advance, comparable to putting a man on the moon. President Bill Clinton declared: "We'll go from knowing almost nothing about how our genes w... [More]