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December 1998
November 1998
- General
- The DNA Files
On November 2, an interactive new Web site (www.dnafiles.org) was launched for The DNA
Files, a series of nine 1-hour documentaries hosted by John Hockenberry
and distributed by National Public Radio. Supported in part by DOE, the
series covers such topics as DNA and behavior, prenatal and predictive
genetic testing, gene therapy, genetics of human evolution, genetics and
biotechnology, and genetics and the law. The Web site, which lists radio
stations that will broadcast The DNA Files around the country, provides
information about each program, additional resources, and an opportunity
for listeners to interact about some ethical issues introduced in the
series.
October 1998
- Research
- New Roadmap for U.S. Human Genome Project (HGP)
DOE and NIH present a new plan outlining HGP
goals for the next five years. The plan, which covers fiscal years 1999-2003, calls for production
of a "working draft" of the human genome by 2001 and a complete and accurate sequence by
2003, two years ahead of the originally scheduled completion date of 2005. A detailed article by
HGP directors Ari Patrinos (DOE) and Francis Collins (NIH) explaining the new HGP goals
appears in the 23 October 1998 issue of Science.
- DOE Joint Genome Institute Exceeds DNA Sequencing Goal
The DOE Joint Genome Institute (JGI) surpassed its ambitious goal of sequencing (20 million base
pairs of human DNA for fiscal year 1998. The achievement, which marks a ten-fold
increase in production output over the previous year, distinguishes the JGI as one of the largest
contributors of human DNA sequence to worldwide public databases. Established in 1996, the
JGI is a consortium of scientists, engineers and support staff from the Lawrence Berkeley,
Lawrence Livermore, and Los Alamos National Laboratories. The JGI can be reached via http://www.jgi.doe.gov.
- The seventh DOE Human Genome Program Contractor-Grantee workshop will be held
January 12-16, 1999 in Oakland, California. At least one investigator from each funded project is
expected to attend the entire meeting and represent the project at poster sessions. Some projects
also will be represented in platform presentations. Abstracts should be submitted through the
Web site (http://www.lbl.gov/Conferences
/DOE_HGP). Abstract deadline: October 1. Contacts: Sylvia Spengler or Kelcey Poe (kjpoe@lbl.gov, 510/486-4879, Fax: -5717).
August 1998
- General
- Research
- DOE Joint Genome Institute Meets Monthly Sequencing Goal
JGI sequenced 2.84 Mb of human DNA in July and has submitted a total of almost 15 Mb of
high-quality sequence to public databases in FY 1998. If this new production rate is maintained
through the end of September, JGI will have sequenced 20.5 Mb in 1998, thus exceeding its
challenging goal of 20 Mb. The 2.84-Mb sequencing rate, projected for a 12-month period, represents
a 15-fold increase over the 1997 production rate, which averaged 170 kb per month. Attaining this
level of production is an outstanding
accomplishment by JGI's constituent laboratories: Los Alamos National Laboratory, Lawrence
Berkeley National Laboratory, and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Information on
monthly sequencing goals and progress is available at the JGI Web site (www.jgi.doe.gov/Docs/JGI_Seq_Summary.html). DOE contact: Dr. Arthur Katz, 301/903-4932
- Canadian Genome Program Returns
The Medical Research Council (MRC) of Canada announced the establishment
of the MRC Genomics Research Program, which will be supported by
$5 million per year for five years for health-related genome research.
The new program is intended as an interim program bridging the Canadian
Genome Analysis and Technology Program, which expired last year,
and the larger proposed genome initiative known as Genome Canada,
which seeks industrial partners. For details, see "What's new" on
the MRC website (URL not available).
- C. Elegans Sequencing Project
Nears Finish
- New System Identifies Polymorphisms
- Expressed Human Genome Sequences Database
July 1998
- Research
- Joint Biochip Agreement Announced
DOE has announced a joint, 5-year agreement among Argonne National Laboratory, Motorola Inc.,
and Packard Instrument Company to develop and mass produce biochips. Originally developed for the DOE Human
Genome Program, the technology provides miniaturized, faster, and more economical methods to
analyze DNA samples. It also provides a 3-dimensional platform that allows greater sensitivity and
accuracy in assaying proteins and RNA. Immediate practical applications include polymorphism
analysis, gene-expression studies, and monitoring of clinical trials.
June 1998
- Research
- General
- New NORD Publications: the third edition
of the NORD Resource Guide and the second edition of the Physicians' Guide
to Rare Diseases
May 1998
- Research
- General
- The DOE 1997 Human Genome Program Report (Parts 1 and 2) is now available in html
and pdf on the
web and in hardcopy. To order a hardcopy email your mailing address to
yustln@ornl.gov.
- Human Genome Project Passes Midpoint
Midlife traditionally presents an opportunity for making evaluations, as
progress towards milestones is measured and courses altered. So, too, with
the Human Genome Project, the massive 15-year biological undertaking begun
in 1990 to obtain the sequence of all 3 billion human DNA bases. Rapid
progress and technology developments during the first half of the project
have affirmed ambitions to tackle this daunting long-term challenge, and
researchers are optimistic that the task will be completed on time and
within budget. A third set of goals guiding the project's path over the
next 5 years will be presented later this year.
Although initially controversial in the scientific community, the value of
the Human Genome Project has been proved beyond question. The wider
biological and scientific communities in the United States and around the
world are developing tools and applications for the new data in such
wide-ranging fields as medicine, agriculture, bioremediation, and
industrial enzymology.
International efforts have played a critical role in the project's success,
with at least 18 countries now supporting programs for analyzing the
genomes of a variety of organisms ranging from microbes to economically
important plants and animals to humans.
- Be sure to look at back issues of Human Genome
News for past news. You can subscribe to the hardcopy version of Human Genome
News and be notified via E-mail each time the latest issue of the newsletter is posted on the Web
site by filling out this subscription
request form.
April 1998
- General
- A workshop entitled "Understanding the Genome:
Technological and Mathematical Challenges" took place at the Mathematical
Sciences Research Institute, Berkeley, California from May 21 to May 23,
1998.
- Livermore Biomedical Scientists Help
International Team Find Kidney Disease Gene
- JASON Report JSR 97-315,
"Human Genome Project". Review by the JASON group of the DOE Human Genome Program's
technology, quality assurance and control, and informatics components. Recommendations
include continued development of advanced technology and establishment of a
standardized program to assess data quality.
- The AAAS Scientific Freedom, Responsibility, and Law Program announces the
following AAAS*97 Symposium Report & Archive: The Human Genome
Project: What's the Public Got To Do With It? Organized by Gregory
Fowler, Southern Oregon University, and Alexander Fowler, AAAS, http://www.aaas.org/spp/dspp/sfrl/hgp.htm.
- Multiple copies of the 34-page color DOE booklet, To Know Ourselves, are available for
distribution at meetings and as educational tools from the
Human Genome Management
Information System. Prepared by Douglas Vaughan (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory),
TKO reviews the history, science, tools, and implications of the Human Genome Project, with special
emphasis on DOE's role.
- Plain Talk About the Human Genome Project is a 292-page compilation of talks
presented during a 3-day
conference at Tuskegee University in September 1996. Distinguished leaders, scientists,
ethicists, educators, and students spoke on wide-ranging topics related to the Human Genome
Project's promise and perils, matters of race and diversity, and education about the project and its
implications. Ordering Information is available at (http://agriculture.tusk.edu/caens/genome/Ordering_Info)
March 1998
- General
- Research
- Funding Announcement
General information and details for the following Department of Energy competitions may be
accessed at:
http://www.er.doe.gov/production/grants/grants.html
Biological Research Program:
Use of Model Organisms to Understand the Human Genome
Notice 98-10 --Published Feb. 17, 1998.
Preapplications should be received by March 26, 1998.
Formal applications must be received no later than May 7, 1998.
The Office of Biological and Environmental Research (OBER) of
the Office of Energy Research (ER), U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), hereby
announces its interest in receiving peer-reviewable applications for
research in support of the Biological Research Program. This Program is a
coordinated multidisciplinary research effort to develop creative,
innovative approaches, resources, and technologies that lead to a molecular
understanding of the human genome. This solicitation is for research that
capitalizes on our understanding and the manipulability of the genomes of
model organisms, including yeast, nematode, fruitfly, Zebra fish, and
mouse, to speed understanding of human genome organization, regulation, and
function.
Contact: Marvin.Stodolsky@oer.doe.gov, 301/903-4475
Cellular Biology Research Program:
Mechanisms of Cellular Responses to Low Dose, Low Dose-Rate Exposures
Notice 98-11 --Published Feb. 17, 1998.
Preapplications should be received by March 26, 1998.
Formal applications must be received no later than May 7, 1998.
The Office of Biological and Environmental Research (OBER) of
the Office of Energy Research (ER), U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), hereby
announces its interest in receiving applications for research for support
of the Cellular Biology Research Program. This Program is a coordinated
multidisciplinary research effort to develop creative, innovative
approaches that will provide a better scientific basis for understanding
exposures and risks to humans associated with low level exposures to
radiation and chemicals. Using modern molecular tools, this research will
provide information that will be used to decrease the uncertainty of risk
at low levels, help determine the shape of the dose-response relationships
after low level exposure, and achieve acceptable levels of human health
protection at the lowest possible cost.
Contacts: Dr. Susan Rose, telephone: (301) 903-4731 or Dr. David Thomassen, telephone: (301)
903-9817.
February 1998
- The DOE 1997 Human Genome Program Report (Parts 1 and 2) is now available in hardcopy
and will be on this Web site soon. To order a hardcopy email your mailing address to caseydk@ornl.gov.
- The latest issue of Human Genome
News (January 1998, Vol. 9, No. 1-2) is now available on this Web site.
- The Human Genome Project: Science, Law & Social Change in the 21st Century, April 23-24,
1998, MIT Campus, Cambridge, MA
This spring, more than 300 scientists, physicians, nurses, lawyers, and
consumers will gather for a unique conference on the medical, legal, and
social implications of new genetic technologies. Topics include medical
records, privacy, and informed consent; genetic discrimination; insurance;
creation and use of DNA data banks; training IRBs to evaluate genetic study
protocols; newborn screening; and the science and ethics of altering genes
in individuals and populations. The meeting is sponsored by the Whitehead
Institute for Biomedical Research, the American Society of Law, Medicine &
Ethics, and the George Washington University Medical Center. CME, CLE, and
CNE credits are available. General conference registration is $325 (early
registration, before March 1, $275). Special conference scholarships are
available to students and postdocs, full-time faculty (not seeking
continuing education credits), and consumer advocates. To register, visit
the ASLME web site at www.aslme.org, or call Katie
Ansbro at
617/262-4990. To learn more about the scholarships, contact Gus Cervini at
617/258-0633, or by e-mail . The scholarships
(including reduction of the student/postdoc rate from $95 to $20) are
first-come, first-served, so call as soon as possible to register.
January 1998
- DNA Replication Complex Revealed in Exquisite
Detail
A team of Harvard Medical School researchers have established the 3-dimensional, atom-by-atom
structure of T7 DNA polymerase at work. The research, reported in the 15 January 1998 issue of
Nature, was supported in part by a grant from the DOE Human Genome Program.
- The CLMA Internet Symposium on Genetic Predisposition Testing will run from May 11-29,
1998. For more information about program content, contact Dr. Steward at CLMA, 610-995-9580,
ext. 236.
- Genome Database (GDB), which provides human gene mapping data to human genetics
researchers from its base at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, will cease operations by July 31,
1998. GDB's principal funder, the DOE Office of Energy Research, is discontinuing support to focus
its informatics resources on the sequencing phase of the Human Genome Project. The servers for
continued access to the current copy of GDB will be maintained in Oak Ridge National Laboratory's
Computational Bioscience Section (http://compbio.ornl.gov), headed by Ed
Uberbacher. This will be a static version of the database, and no further development is currently
contemplated. (Full GDB termination statement: http://www.gdb.org/shutdown/notice.html)
- A perspective on the impact
of the Human Genome Project on families is presented by Sharon Davis, a DOE Human Genome
Program grantee. Dr. Davis represents The Arc, a 140,000-member national organization on mental
retardation.
- Welcome to our new look. This site has had a recent facelift; we hope
you like the results. Let us know if
there are any problems.
December 1997
November 1997
- Reports from the first two Workshops on
Complete cDNA Sequencing, Spring and Fall of 1997, are now available. The workshops'
objective is to
extend the infrastructure that the Integrated
Molecular Analysis of Genome Expression (I.M.A.G.E.) consortium has provided since 1994 to the
challenges of complete cDNA
sequencing.
- Abstracts from the 1997 DOE Human Genome Program Contractor-Grantee
workshop now available.
- Rice Genome Sequencing
Collaboration
An international collaboration has been established to sequence the 400-million-base rice genome,
using the tools and strategies that have already been developed in laboratories working on other
genomes, including the 3-billion-base human genome.
Genetics in the News
October 1997
September 1997
- The National Human Genome Research Institute and the National Action Plan on Breast Cancer
will be hosting a workshop to stimulate policy options for maintaining the privacy and confidentiality
of genetic information in medical research. The workshop will be held September 16-17, Bethesda,
Maryland. Contact Leslie Fink or Margaret Bouvier, 301/402-0911.
- PBS Special on Genetics: "A Question of Genes: Inherited Risks" airs
September 16 on PBS from 9 to 11 PM. Several case studies are presented in
this excellent program. Check local listings for details. Visit their web
site at www.pbs.org/gene/ .The program
is funded by SmithKline Beecham and the Department of Energy Human Genome
Program. Press Release
- The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences is sponsoring a
Symposium on the
Environmental Genome Project, October 17-18,1997 at the
Masur Auditorium on the Bethesda campus of the NIH.
-
Notice to DOE Contractors, Grantees:
The sixth DOE Human Genome Program Contractor-Grantee workshop will be held November 9-13
in
Santa Fe, New Mexico. At least one investigator from each funded project is expected to attend the
entire
meeting and represent the project at poster sessions. Some projects also will be represented in
platform
presentations. Abstracts should be submitted electronically via the web site at http://www.lbl.gov/Conferences/DOE_HGP/. More information on registration and abstracts available at that web site or from Sylvia
Spengler;
Human Genome Program Coordination; 459 Donner Laboratory; Lawrence Berkeley National
Laboratory;
Berkeley, CA 94720 (510/486-4879, Fax: -5717, sjspengler@lbl.gov).
Genetics in the News in September 1997
August 1997
July 1997
- Declaration On Human Genome And Human Rights (EurekAlert):
A Draft Universal Declaration on the Human Genome and
Human Rights with guidelines on genetic research and practices was
adopted by an inter-governmental committee at the end of a four-day
meeting at UNESCO's Headquarters in Paris. See
http://www.eurekalert.org/releases/UNESCO_declare.html
- New web site: The Task Force on Genetic
Testing. Promoting Safe and Effective Genetic Testing in the United States - Principles and
Recommendations
 Genetic
Privacy Legislation: Pending Federal Bills and Federal Laws.
- This web site has been remodeled! For our visitors, the material has been
reorganized for easier access to the information you have indicated through
your questions is important to you. For the scientist, the research-specific
material is now available separately.
- The January-June 1997 Human Genome
News is now available.
- Your Genes, Your
Choices, a book describing the Human Genome Project, the science behind it, and the
ethical, legal, and social issues that are raised by the project. Also mirrored on this site.
June 1997
- Check out The Institute for Genomic Research's web
page for 40 Mb in
sequences they released June 24th from 12 different organisms. Two of
those sets of sequences represent whole genomes: Helicobacter pylori (1.7
Mb) and Archaeoglobus fulgidus (2.2 Mb).
Also, from their home page, the press release: "TIGR/HGS Funding
Relationship Reaches Early Conclusion" may be accessed.
- Genetics in the News:
- Genetics Research and Human Subjects: The Changing Landscape: A DOE Interagency
Workshop June 26-27, 1997, Bethesda, Maryland. Contact Sharon Jakubowski, Oak Ridge Institute
for Science and Education, 423/576-2021, Fax: 423/241-3851, e-mail jakubows@orau.gov.
- Protecting Human
Subjects Home Page: current events, educational information, DOE Human Subjects Research
Projects Database.
- National Bioethics Advisory Commission web
site
- Video: Protecting Human Research Subjects within the U.S. Department of Energy. Contact
Sharon Jakubowski at 423/576-2021 or e-mail jakubows@orau.gov.
April 1997
- Serving Science and
Society into the New Millennium: A Symposium; May 21-22, 1997; National Academy of
Sciences; Washington, D.C.
Join the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Health and Environmental
Research and the National Research Council of the National Academy of
Sciences at a jointly sponsored symposium celebrating the legacy and
exploring the promise of half a century of achievements in the DOE Biological
and Environmental Research (BER) program. Participants will have the
opportunity to learn about current programs and promising new directions,
challenges, and prospects for future research and its applications.
- The GeneLetter
March 1997 issue now available. (4/28/97)
- Merck launches genomics institute to support
research on gene function. (4/21/97)
March 1997
- New course for educators: Applications of Human Genome Technology; July 28-August
1, 1997; Genetics Education Center, University of Kansas Medical Center. Updates participants on
applications of the Human Genome Project, focusing
on the ethical, legal, and social implications (ELSI) of the new genetic biotechnology. Two hours of
graduate credit available. Participants will attend:
didactic interactions with genetic and ELSI experts,
panels of families with genetic conditions,
new curricular resources/lesson plan demos,
laboratory tours including world wide web and internet labs, and
role play sessions and hands-on activities. For more information see
http://www.kumc.edu/gec/course.html.
- Human Genome Program - Ethical,
Legal, and Social Implications
Notice 97-11.
Preapplications due April 17, 1997; formal applications due no later than July 10, 1997.
February 1997
January 1997
1996 and Prior Archive
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