Researched
Human Genome Project & Sequencing
Reading all three billion letters of the human genome, and then making that routine.
Open in the interactive tree →Frederick Sanger's chain-termination method (1977) read the first DNA genomes. The publicly funded Human Genome Project (1990-2003, roughly 2.7 billion US dollars) and Craig Venter's company Celera announced a first draft in 2000 (published 2001) and an essentially complete reference in April 2003 (about 92 percent of the genome; the gaps were closed by the T2T consortium in 2022). Next-generation sequencers from 2005 onward cut the cost per genome from millions of dollars to a few hundred.
Prerequisites
- Programmable Computer (Zuse Z3)1941
- Sanger DNA Sequencing1977Sanger sequencing read the first genomes and drove the Human Genome Project
- PCR (Copying DNA)1985
Unlocks
- Genome-Wide Association Studies2005
- Human Microbiome2007-2012
- CRISPR Gene Editing2012
- Asgard Archaea & Complex Life2015–2020
- Single-Cell Atlases2016
- Gene Therapy (AAV Vectors)2017
- AI Protein Structure Prediction2020
- COVID-19 Pandemic2020
- Precision Fermentation2020
- mRNA Technology2020
- Ancient DNA & Human Origins2022
- Complete Genome and Pangenome2022
- Synthetic Genomes2025
- C4 Rice / Better Photosynthesisopen
- Causes of Mental Illnessopen
- Eradicating Tuberculosisopen
- Halting Mass Extinctionopen
- Pandemic Preparednessopen