Pax et bonum on the Human Genome Project front?
nytimes.com
Celera and the public HGP may cooperate on decoding the human genome. It's clear that the two projects' leaders aren't wildly enthusiastic about it, but the biology establishment fears that the NIH could be hurt if Celera wins the race. It's pointed out that Celera has access to the HGP data and techniques, and not vice-versa, but the press and Congress may miss that, and the NIH be seen to suffer an ignominious defeat.
Biggest obstacle: immediate publication of genome data is a particularly strong point with the British, 1/3 funders of the public effort thru the Wellcome Trust. There's a possibility that the Americans might be more willing to compromise with Celera on slower publication, but:
If Celera and American universities join in an exclusively national effort, a reasonably harmonious international effort could founder in acrimony that would make the trans-Atlantic differences over genetically engineered crops seem like a mere food fight.
Doc
p.s. The new "Red Herring" has genomics as one of 10 big trends or something. It mentions that Incyte and, I believe, Hyseq, are searching for only the most important 10% of the genome. Most of the immediately useful stuff is certainly in that 10%, but they are not in "The Great Race." |
