The Human Genome Project was completed 10 years ago yesterday, and in the intervening time, there have been a number of advances in genome sequencing and biology, the National Human Genome Research Institute says. According to its calculations, the cost to generate a human genome sequence has dropped from about $1 billion when the project began in 1990 to between $10 million and $50 million when the project ended to between $3,000 and $5,000 today. Also, in the past 10 years the number of human genomes that have been sequenced has skyrocketed from just one to thousands, and there are now nearly 3,000 genes with known phenotypes or disease-causing mutations.
"On the 10-year anniversary of the completion of the Human Genome Project, it is appropriate to celebrate our accomplishments over the past decide and to reflect on the impact of genomics on research, medicine, and society," Eric Green, the NHGRI director, says in a statement. "By improving our understanding of basic genome biology, the genomic underpinnings of disease and genomic medicine, the field gets ever closer to its ultimate goal — improving human health through genomics research."
The NHGRI numbers also note that the number of drugs with pharmacogenetic information on their labels has jumped from four in 1990 to more than 100 in 2013.