The Science Speeds Up.

The article looks at two technologies that may help advance genomic medicine. The Human Genome Project completed the first directory of all human genes. Scientists hope to identify the genes that foster chronic diseases. There are discrepancies in individual genome sequences, known as polymorphisms, that are important markers of disease risk. A database known as HapMap analyzes DNA samples from people around the world to identify a set of polymorphisms that identify the various areas of the human genome. 454 Life Sciences Corp., Washington University and Harvard Medical School developed a gene sequencing technique that could speed up the sequencing while reducing costs.