• ADA – Americans with Disabilities Act
• AEC – Atomic Energy Commission (predecessor to ERDA and DOE)
• ANL – Argonne National Laboratory, a Department of Energy Laboratory
• BAC – bacterial artificial chromosome
• BERAC – Biological and Environmental Research Advisory Committee (successor to HERAC)
• cDNA – complementary deoxyribonucleic acid
• DHHS – Department of Health and Human Services at National Institutes of Health (NIH)
• DNA – deoxyribonucleic acid
• DOE – Department of Energy (successor to AEC and ERDA)
• EEOC – Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
• ELSI – ethical, legal, and social issues
• ERDA – Energy Research and Development Administration (successor to AEC; predecessor to DOE)
• EST – expressed-sequence tag
• FY – federal fiscal year (October 1 to September 30)
• GDB – Genome Database
• GRAIL – Gene Recognition and Analysis Internet Link
• HERAC – Health and Environmental Research Advisory Committee (predecessor to BERAC)
• HGI – Human Genome Initiative
• HGP – Human Genome Project, Human Genome Program
• HUGO – Human Genome Organisation
• ICPEMC – International Commission for Protection Against Environmental Mutagens and Carcinogens
• IMAGE – Integrated Molecular Analysis of Gene Expression
• IOM – Institute of Medicine
• JGI – Department of Energy’s Joint Genome Institute in Walnut Creek, California. The JGI houses the DOE’s production sequencing facility.
• LANL – Los Alamos National Laboratory, a Department of Energy Laboratory
• LBNL – Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, a Department of Energy Laboratory
• LLNL – Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, a Department of Energy Laboratory
• MGP – Microbial Genome Project
• MOU – memorandum of understanding
• mRNA – messenger ribonucleic acid
• NAS – National Academy of Sciences
• NCHGR – National Center for Human Genome Research at NIH; renamed NHGRI in 1997
• NHGRI – National Human Genome Research Institute at NIH; previously known as NCHGR
• NIGMS – National Institute of General Medical Sciences at NIH
• NIH – National Institutes of Health
• NLM – National Library of Medicine at NIH
• NRC – National Research Council
• NYT – New York Times
• OBER – Office of Biological and Environmental Research, U.S. Department of Energy (formerly OHER)
• OHER – Office of Health and Environmental Research, U.S. Department of Energy (predecessor to OBER)
• ORNL – Oak Ridge National Laboratory, a Department of Energy Laboratory
• OTA – Office of Technology Assessment
• R&D – research and development
• RFA – Research Funding Announcement
• SBH – sequencing by hybridization
• STS – sequence tagged site
• UNESCO – United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization
• YAC – yeast artificial chromosome