Timeline Test

August

• An agreement was reached between the National Institutes of Health and the Henrietta Lacks family regarding the use of the HeLa genome for research. See “The HeLa Genome: An agreement on privacy and access.” Francis Collins and Kathy L. Hudson discuss this historic agreement and prior collaborative discussions. See also “Biospecimen policy: Family matters.” Nature 500(7461), 141–42.
• Genetic Alliance launched Genes in Life website, which offers experts and the public comprehensive information on genetics services and access, including genomic testing and working with healthcare professionals. The site harmonizes existing resources and tools in a one-stop source and engages the public on leading-edge topics.

June

• The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that naturally occurring DNA cannot be patented, but that synthetically created cDNA is patent eligible. The Court heard arguments in the case of Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc. on April 15. (Wikipedia article) [June 13]
• Battelle and United for Medical Research issued, The Impact of Genomics on the U.S. Economy, an update to Battelle’s 2011 industry report. [June 13]
• The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in favor of a Maryland law that allows warrantless collection of DNA from persons who have been arrested (Maryland v. King). (February 26, 2013); NPR summary account. [June 3]
• Over 70 leading healthcare, research, and disease advocacy organizations from more than 40 countries began steps to form a global alliance for genetic health dedicated to enabling the secure sharing of genomic and clinical data in a standardized (technical and regulatory), effective, and responsible manner. More information is available at the Broad Institute, including a White Paper. [June 3]
• Smithsonian opens human genome exhibit: Unlocking Life’s Code.

April 15

• Gene patenting case reached Supreme Court: The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in the case of Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc. (See also June 13, 2013, entry above, “The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that naturally occurring DNA cannot be patented.”) [April 15]
• HGP marked 10th anniversary of Project’s end. [NYT]

October

Privacy and Progress in Whole Genome Sequencing report released by the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues.

September

ENCODE project published results from cross-consortium integrative analysis, covering more than 4 million regulatory regions in the human genome in 30 coordinated papers in Nature, Science, and other journals. The Nature ENCODE website allows readers to follow a topic through all of the papers in the publication set. See also the UCSC ENCODE Integrative Analysis portal for additional material and analysis resources.

June

Illumina launched MyGenome app for iPad: First tool of its kind for visualizing the human genome.

July 30

Ruling upholds Myriad gene patent in cancer test. (See also June 2013 entry above, “The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that naturally occurring DNA cannot be patented.”) NYT.

May

Battelle HGP published report: Economic Impact of the Human Genome Project. (See also May 11, 2011, online response in Nature: “What is the human genome worth?” and the June 2013 followup report, The Impact of Genomics on the U.S. Economy.)

February 10

“The future is bright: Reflections on the first ten years of the human genomics age” is published, marking the tenth anniversary of the publication of the draft sequence of the human genome. Nature 470(7333), 204–13.

November 1

The U.S. justice department filed a court brief stating that genes should not be eligible for patents because they are products of nature. See “Gene patent ruling raises questions for industry.” (See also June 2013 entry above, “The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that naturally occurring DNA cannot be patented.”) NYT.

October 29

1000 Genomes Project Consortium published pilot paper, “A map of human genome variation from population-scale sequencing.” Nature 467, 1062–73.

April 1

Retrospective: “Has the revolution arrived?” by Francis Collins. Nature 464, 674–675.

December

Landmark paper: “The NIH Human Microbiome Project.” Genome Research 19(12), 2317–23.

October 10

Genome economics survey published. “Genomics research: World survey of public funding.” BMC Genomics 9, 472.

June 1

Genome Data Base operations shut down by RTI International. The archival database was later transferred to Johns Hopkins University, where it originated, but is no longer accessible.

May

Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) became law. [May 21]

Landmark paper: “Mapping and sequencing of structural variation from eight human genomes.” Nature 453, 56–64. [May 1]

Second-generation sequencing platforms cause dramatic drop in sequencing costs. Costs began to outpace Moore’s Law. See DNA sequencing costs graphs from NGHRI.

October

NIH issued RFA to support reference epigenome production centers that will develop reference epigenomes of a variety of human cells. See Roadmap Epigenomics Mapping Consortium for more information. [2007]

Human Microbiome Project begun. See “The human microbiome project.” Nature 449, 804–10. [October 17]

May

Special issue: Human Genome Collection. Nature S1.

Human chromosome 1 published. Nature 441, 315–21.

April

Human chromosome 3 published. Nature 440, 1194–98. [April 27]

Human chromosome 17 published. Nature 440, 1045–49. [April 20]

March

Human chromosome 15 published. Nature 440, 671–75. [March 30]

Human chromosome 11 published. Nature 440, 497–500. [March 23]

Human chromosome 12 published. Nature 440, 346–57. [March 16]

January 19

Human chromosome 8 published. Nature 439, 331–35.