The race to sequence the human genome - Tien Nguyen

In 1990, The Human Genome Project proposed to sequence the entire human genome over 15 years with $3 billion of public funds. Then, seven years before its scheduled completion, a private company called Celera announced that they could accomplish the same goal in just three years at a fraction of the cost. Tien Nguyen details the history of this race to sequence the human genome.

Lesson by Tien Nguyen, animation by Boico Visual House.

[sonnypryderi]

i still have no bloody clue what any of it means but thank you, great video

[gugopah]

Few others facts that should get mentioned with this. Not only did Celera work off of publicly available HGP to complete their sequence but C. Venter (who started that project) later admitted he swapped out all the other human DNA samples half way through the sequencing for his own, thus reducing the value of that sequence in mapping variations in the human genome due to diseases etc. He also attempted to then sell genetic information, an effort that he later abandoned as HGP was after all, public. If you were a researcher, HGPs sequences were not only available online, but you could order samples of bacteria carrying the pieces of the entire library, a process that was (and is today) is essential in many of the genomic experiments looking to isolate a specific gene or sequence for whatever reason. He undoubtedly accelerated the pace of HGPs research and props had to be given to him for that, and even later selling of the info can be seen as an effort to recoup some costs to the private company that funded the project, but alone, his effort would have been infinitely slower, less accurate, and far less stimulating to worldwide academic research and many wondered why he hadn't simply pitched in and helped the existing effort of the HGP rather than striking it out alone. Still, a very good short on DNA sequencing race. I remember this being hotly debated when I was in grad school.

[philipcheung]

Although this was about the human genome, it focused more on how competition and collaboration can bring us forward in learning more.

[FutureCommentary]

We JUST sequenced 100% of the human genome (2022). I wonder who won the race.

[Chantieluvs]

I love the symbolism of the converging roads at the very end; representing our chromosomes ❤

[Dusty_Shoes]

Nice Enzyme hats on the chefs cos they're chopping up proteins xD

[RohitPant]

Surprisingly the small animation in this video helped me clear my doubts about clone contig method used by the public funded hgp team!

[Mikey-oesf]

Bouta begin my studies in genetics and genomics next year! Cheers to the next generation!

[mayankimmortal]

Great video. Keep doing more. You are doing a great thing making information available to everyone in small cohesive fun forms. Bye

[zhouwu]

It's such a generous approach to make an international collaboration with an open sharing of technology, so typical of the idealism of the 1990's. This was followed by the far more competitive wave starting near 1998, where it became more like everyone out for themselves, and whatever you can do I can do better type of attitudes which alienates people into jealous, competitive factions. So interestingly, I was born in 1990, when the Human Genome Project began, and my little brother was born in 1998, when Celera began to challenge it, and in a funny sort of way, my relationship with my little brother's paralleled greatly the ambitious and underhanded ways Celera attempted to overtake the Human Genome Project but failed miserably. Selfish, vain-ambitions don't pay, people. Even if Celera won, and I'm glad it didn't, we all know they couldn't have done it without massive help, unthanked for and unacknowledged by Celera with their smug founder, that they got from the Human Genome Project. So open sharing, international collaboration: 1. Self-centered, risk taking private interests: 0. As it should be.

[BlazeBluetm]

This is like poetry to me, beautiful. I hope i get to live the day where we can take full advantage of our bodies.

[MrMiniView]

This history of the race to sequence the human genome does not mention that Celera could initially sequence faster than the public initiative because of their collaboration with Applied Biosytems which had invented a sequencer that was 10X faster than existing sequencers being used by the public project. Eventually, public labs started purchasing the faster sequencers so the whole project was completed well ahead of the initial 15 yr public plan .

[GottgleicherMaster]

the non-sync lip sync is really anoying and the voice didnt match the character. but still a great vid! :)

[ConfuzzledTomato]

why is the ginger girl sad in the thumbnail? Is it because she has no soul?

[sunnychabriya]

5 years later it is completely sequenced now!

[bendarke]

I am absolutely impressed and garteful for such short clips on free social media platforms! I am writing my first essay for university about the HGP and it has to focus on various topics like the competetive race among the HGC and Celera Genomics but also about the different possible procedures they used for sequencing. The only points that are missing are the discussions about the emerged ethical issues but there must be some comprehensive informations about these topics somewhere too :-))))

[Poptartsicles]

We've finished reading the Novel but we still don't understand the story. It's a loooong road ahead.

[tygonmaster]

The video is pretty misleading. It paints a very rosy picture of the two projects. The reality was that the private company did not do it because they were nice or looking out for the good of humanity. They wanted to patent every possible gene they could to profit off future medical procedures. As they patented more and more genes, the public group had to go through a web of bureaucracy that cost valuable time and tax dollars. Private companies are out for profit. That is it. Putting profit before human decency and scientific integrity, they almost prevented the free access to the genome at all. The reason why the public sector published their findings so fast was to prevent further patents. It became a necessity as failing to do so would lock the information forever away. Sad that people are this way, but at least something good came out of it.

[ShawnRavenfire]

I think this just goes to show the power of competition.

[irisong]

My mom's name is Tien Nguyen so I had to read the title twice since I was confused for a second.