The Human Genome Project Was a Failure

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I carry my genome around in most of the cells of my body

Geneticist here! Can confirm that research benefited way more than medicine from the get go, but we get better every day at translating what we discover into useful medical applications. There's just a lot of lag time. Also can confirm that "slapping samples on the sequencer" is exactly how we get our data.

The HGP's "failure" was actually its greatest achievement, IMHO. The stunned disbelief that it didn't instantly solve every mystery pushed the community to delve deeper into how gene regulation actually works and how genes interact with each other. I was studying biochemistry in college when the project was being carried out, and I was excited as everyone else. And I was as surprised as anyone else to hear that the results were nothing like what we expected. It's hard to recall just how little we understood about what we thought we were doing at the time. We had sequenced so few genomes, and so many of them were from bacteria and other single-celled organisms, that most of our expectations were based on a very skewed sample that turned out to not be even remotely representative of what goes on in mammals. We didn't know enough to know how ignorant we were. But the nature of the disconnect between our expectations and the real results was what gave us the clues to know where to look next. It told us what questions we should be asking. Sometimes, you just have to face-plant in front of a huge audience to move forward.

"Unlike computer code, the genetic code doesn't contain helpful annotations." Computer programmers: Sweat nervously

"It's more complicated than what we thought it would be." "It always is..."

I love that the pitch was to keep a copy of your genes in your jeans.

It's only a failure based on the application expectations before the project started. We had to get the map. It's a work in progress. Plus CRISPR

A library that was never meant to be a library, that just developed into one over time made from the material that was available.

As someone currently sequencing the reference genomic map for a palm tree, I would say this project was incredibly important for my current area of study. The human genome project walked so future genetic projects could run.

“ Task failed successfully “, is absolutely correct. I loved this video! Tysm

A genetic study, for patients lucky enough to get one (they're expensive) can go a long way in determining what specific pharmaceuticals are appropriate to treat mental health conditions.

Not a failure at all. We simply learned that genetic expression functions much more complexly than we initially assumed, therefore it is taking longer to understand the implications of everything and develop actionable therapies based on the results. I don't think it will really kick off until we have AIs that can continuously simulate genetic expression on digital human models. That will go so much faster than the status quo, where we can only test one condition at a time in organized lab studies that take years to complete. There is also the ongoing ethical question of to what extent we should genetically modify ourselves, which is still unresolved.

I worked on that a bit as an undergrad! Strangely my landlord’s name at the time: Gene Poole. true story

Wow, that was fascinating! I've been clinically diagnosed with a connective tissue disease called Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, which is... a complicated condition that comes in like 13 different varieties. It's always confused and frustrated me that they can do a genetic test to confirm if you have one specific version of EDS, but not the others, and I never understood why. But after watching this, now it makes perfect sense!

I think this video underestimates the potential of gene-editing technology.

At least there was an attempt to fix things.

I hoped there was goingto be a cure for my son's primary immune deficiency but he's been gone for 22 years.

It also gave us a whole host of new ethics concerns, and new ways for insurance companies to refuse to cover care for people who need it.

Okay, that weird editing flub in the hand-off between host and ad through me for a loop. LOL