Dream sequence: real-time DNA testing

Since the draft human genome was decoded a decade ago, the world has been waiting in eager anticipation for scientists to fully unlock the secrets of our genes. Indeed, barely a month goes by without headlines reporting a breakthrough in DNA sequencing that could spell the end for a fatal disease. But success hasn’t been easy and, so far, the direct effect on our lives has been limited.

Ewan Birney, a Sanger Center geneticist, compared the sequencing of the first human genome to ’being given the best book in the world, but it’s in Russian and it’s incredibly boring to read’. What many people didn’t realise back in 2000 was that the Human Genome Project was only the beginning of many years of research. The results would be difficult to understand and it could take many more years to compile meaningful data that would make a real impact.