The Human Genome Project (HGP) was a 13-year-old project (1990-2003) coordinated by the US Department of Energy, the National Institutes of Health, and eventually the Wellcome Trust (UK) as well. Two gatherings of America’s top biologists in the 1980s are credited as the forerunners of the HGP. In 1985, a group of scientists met at the University of California, Santa Cruz to discuss the possibility of mapping the human genome. A genome is all the genetic material in a human chromosome. Most of the participants at this meeting were sure it could be done, but were skeptical that it should be done because of the enormous expense. Given the widespread benefits that would come from the project, however, almost all of the scientists present agreed that it deserved continued consideration.

In March 1986, a meeting of international scientists took place in Santa Fe, New Mexico. This meeting is considered to be the actual beginning of the HGP. The National Institutes of Health (NIH), with the assistance of the Department of Energy (DOE), assumed leadership of the project.

The goals of the HGP were: