Francis Collins Preaches to the Choir

Since the staged June 26 unveiling of the "working draft" of the human genome sequence, National Human Genome Research Institute director Francis Collins has hit the meeting circuit, not to hype what was, but to get people thinking about where it is all headed. He spoke to a packed audience at the National Association of Biology Teachers annual conference in Orlando Oct. 25-28 on "the golden path"--the search among the 3 billion bases to distinguish protein-encoding genes from repeats, determine gene density, and to perhaps learn exactly what most of human genetic material actually does. Collins previewed a kit for teachers, "The Human Genome Project: Exploring Our Molecular Selves," which will include a video, CD-ROM, poster, and manual, timed for release with publication of a major manuscript detailing the sequencing effort in January 2001. The video, featuring James Watson and Francis Crick and many...

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