Word: humanize
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...achievement of that goal would launch a new era in medicine. James Wyngaarden, director of the NIH, which will oversee the project, predicts that it will make "major contributions to understanding growth, development and human health, and open new avenues for therapy." Full translation of the genetic message would enable medical researchers to identify the causes of thousands of still mysterious inherited disorders, both physical and behavioral...
...drugs to treat or even prevent them. The same would be true for more common disorders like heart disease and cancer, which at the very least have large genetic components. Better knowledge of the genome could speed development of gene therapy -- the actual alteration of instructions in the human genome to eliminate genetic defects...
Although scientists share many of these concerns, the concept of deciphering the human genome sends most of them into paroxysms of rapture. "It's the Holy Grail of biology," says Harvard biologist and Nobel laureate Walter Gilbert. "This information will usher in the Golden Age of molecular medicine," says Mark Pearson, Du Pont's director of molecular biology. Predicts George Cahill, a vice president at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute: "It's going to tell us everything. Evolution, disease, everything will be based on what's in that magnificent tape called...
...genome project, especially since last April, when an array of scientists testified on the subject at a congressional committee hearing. There, Nobel laureate Watson of DNA fame, since picked by the NIH to head the effort, mesmerized listeners with his plea for support: "I see an extraordinary potential for human betterment ahead of us. We can have at our disposal the ultimate tool for understanding ourselves at the molecular level . . . The time...
...became available -- proceed to reading the entire genetic message. Most of the remaining critics were silenced last fall when the NIH chose the respected Watson as project director. Still, some scientists remain wary of the project. Says David Botstein, a vice president at Genentech and a member of the Human Genome Advisory Committee: "We need to test its progress, regulate its growth and slap it down if it becomes a monster. Jim Watson understands the dangers as well...