1,000 Genomes Project

Washington University is part of the global effort to figure out who gets genetic diseases and how treatments can be improved.

The international research effort, which will include scientists at Washington University, will sequence the genomes of one thousand people from different parts of the globe.

The goal is to figure out who gets genetic diseases, why some people seem to be more seriously affected, and how treatment and prevention methods can be improved.

Data collected will be available to medical researchers who study various diseases.

"I see it as improving the encyclopedia of the human genome, which is the reference people look to when they are doing disease studies," said Elaine Mardis, co-director of the Genome Sequencing Center at Washington University School of Medicine, one of the hosts of the project.

Researchers hope that one day people will have their genomes sequenced in their doctors' offices to predict their risk of disease and best method of treatment...

•	1,000 Genomes Project Under the Microscope St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Monday, Jan. 28, 2008 Byline: Blythe Bernhard