The Human Genome Project (HGP) was one of the great feats of exploration in history—an international research effort to sequence and map all of the genes, together known as the genome. Completed in April 2003, the HGP gave us the ability, for the first time, to read nature's complete genetic blueprint for building a human being.  Both a technological and scientific milestone, the HGP marked an historic breakthrough, however, it remains little understood by the public.  That’s about to change.
 
In 2013, the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) and its parent organization, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), in partnership with the Smithsonian Institution, will celebrate the 10thanniversary of the sequencing of the human genome and the 60th anniversary of the Watson-Crick discovery of DNA’s structure with a major exhibition and public programming initiative, Human Genome, at the National Museum of Natural History.  Through high-tech, hands-on interactive activities and vast educational programming, Human Genome will not only celebrate the advances related to the sequencing of the human genome, but it will make genomics accessible, understandable, and exciting to the general public.  More than just an exhibition within the walls of the Museum, the project will include a large-scale, multi-platform educational effort that will communicate how genomic science, and the era of personalized medicine, is playing—and will continue to play—a critical role in our everyday lives and health care.
 
For additional information or to learn how you can support this program, please contact Caite Gilmore, Partnership Development Officer, at cgilmore [at] fnih [dot] org.