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Human Genome News, September-December 1995; 7(3-4):3
Francis Collins was appointed Director of the NIH National Center for Human Genome Research in 1993, following the resignation of James Watson. Collins was formerly at the University of Michigan, where he was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, professor, and Director of the NCHGR-supported human genome center. In his accompanying article, Collins shares his thoughts on the Human Genome Project and its growing impact on the practice of medicine.
He received the B.S. degree from the University of Virginia, M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in physical chemistry from Yale University, and M.D. from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. Collins pioneered the development of a powerful gene-finding method known as "positional cloning," in which investigators localize a disease gene to a chromosomal subregion by studying the inheritance pattern of the disease within families. His group and others used this technique to isolate the genes for cystic fibrosis, neurofibromatosis type 1, Huntington's disease, and ataxia telangiectasia.
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The electronic form of the newsletter may be cited in the following style:
Human Genome Program, U.S. Department of Energy, Human Genome News (v7n3).
The Human Genome Project (HGP) was an international 13-year effort, 1990 to 2003. Primary goals were to discover the complete set of human genes and make them accessible for further biological study, and determine the complete sequence of DNA bases in the human genome. See Timeline for more HGP history.
Published from 1989 until 2002, this newsletter facilitated HGP communication, helped prevent duplication of research effort, and informed persons interested in genome research.
