Global symposium highlights China's key role in Human Genome Studies

The generation of the first draft sequence of the human genome 25 years ago has driven progress across a broad range of biological and medical research, with Chinese researchers making significant contributions along the way, global scientists said during a recent symposium.

"The Human Genome Project is perhaps the defining milestone of life science in the 21st century. It has brought advances to evolution, molecular and cell biology, population genetics, immunology, neuroscience, and pharmacology — almost every aspect across all fields of biology and medicine," Xie Xiaoliang, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and director of the Changping Laboratory, said.

He made the remarks at an international symposium marking the 25th anniversary of the project, hosted by the Changping Laboratory in Beijing from Aug 24 to 25.

Eric Green, an American genomics researcher who played an integral role in the project, said that at the onset of the project, sequencing a genome cost about $1 billion and took six years, while the same task can now be completed in just six seconds at a fraction of the cost.

He added that genomic medicine can now be applied to cancer research, rare disease diagnosis, prenatal testing, pharmacogenomics, and disease prevention, with newborn genome sequencing poised to become the next important frontier.

China joined the Human Genome Project in 1999, becoming the only developing country to participate in this international endeavor.

Yang Huanming, also a CAS academician who led China's role in the project, said that his team was tasked with sequencing roughly 30 million base pairs on the short arm of chromosome 3. This contribution, equivalent to about one percent of the reference sequence, helped lay the foundation for genomics research in China.

Magdalena Skipper, editor-in-chief of the international journal Nature, said that the project has transformed medicine and driven a wave of technological innovation.

Moreover, the success of the project has demonstrated the power of international scientific collaboration, showing that some of the greatest advances can only be achieved when researchers across countries and institutions work together.

Xie said that the project's legacy extends beyond the big data. It stands as proof that the world can come together to solve a problem too big for any single country, any single lab, or any single scientist.

"Today, as the life sciences face increasingly complex challenges, scientists around the world will build on that legacy, pushing the boundaries of discovery and opening new possibilities for human health and for generations to come," he said.