nominated in July 2009 by President Obama to become Director of the NIH.) In a commencement address in December 2000, I observed to the graduating class that, if the key advice of the 1969 movie The Graduate was to work in "plastics," the key advice of this decade is to work in genomics—the study of all of our genes and their functions, instead of just one gene at a time. (The comment created quite a buzz during the reception as parents and graduates asked about the term and its meaning!) The near completion of the human genome sequence in 2001 has since fueled many associated advances in genetics, medicine, and public health. One big surprise of the human genome sequence is that there are many fewer genes than previously expected, about 20,000 instead of 50,000 to 100,000. This finding put the focus on the protein products coded for by the genes; there are an estimated 1 million types of proteins, the effector molecules of our cells and bodies. The corresponding research on all the proteins is called "proteomics."3 The Human Genome Project demonstrated the importance of appropriately funding enabling technologies—synthesizing and sequencing DNA and proteins with automation and miniaturization. These technology platforms made the Genome Project feasible. Traditionally, we thought about science leading to technologies and then commercial or medical applications. Now we realize that technological advances may be essential to even conceive of the scientific aims. Furthermore, the decision to include in the Genome Project many other species along with humans (a hot issue in the late 1980s) has been amply rewarded with many insights from comparative genomic analysis. And the requirements for computational advances have
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