WHAT:

The Human Genome Project, a 13-year effort to map the entire set of human genes, is almost completed. This international research effort will enable scientists to read nature’s complete genetic blueprint for building a human being. The completion of the HGP is being hailed as one of the most significant advances in medicine in history.

WHEN:

The National Institutes of Health, which has spearheaded the HGP, will announce the completion of the sequencing of the genome at a news conference in Bethesda, MD, on April 14.

A RESOURCE FOR MEDIA:

In an effort to help journalists and the public understand the significance of the Human Genome Project, UAB has prepared an article in a question and answer format that explains the Human Genome Project in easily understood language. The article is formatted for print and available as a PDF file to download.

Our expert is Dr. Bruce Korf, chair of UAB’s Department of Genetics and an internationally renowned genetics researcher. We invite journalists to access the site and incorporate any or all of Dr. Korf’s thoughts into their reporting of this watershed event.

WHERE:

The Q & A with Dr. Korf may be found at www.uab.edu/newsarchive. Look under “Top News Stories” and click on “Human Genome Project Nears Completion.”

BACKGROUND:

Begun in 1990, the U.S. Human Genome Project is a 13-year effort coordinated by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Institutes of Health. The project originally was planned to last 15 years, but rapid technological advances have accelerated the expected completion date to April, 2003.

Bruce R. Korf, M.D., Ph.D., joined UAB on January 1 as chair of UAB’s Department of Genetics. Before coming to UAB, he was medical director of the Harvard-Partners Center for Genetics at Harvard Medical School. Korf holds the Wayne and Sara Finley Chair of Human Genetics at UAB and is board-certified in pediatrics, child neurology, clinical genetics, cytogenetics and clinical molecular genetics.