The International Human Genome Project

Abstract

The human genome project was conceived and executed as an international project, due to both pragmatic and principled reasons. This internationality has served the project well, with the resulting human genome being freely available for all researchers in all countries. Over time the reference human genome will likely have to evolve to a graph genome, and tap into more diverse sequences worldwide. A similar international mindset underpins data analysis for the interpretation of the human genome from basic to clinical research.