Welcome to the National Human Genome Research Institute
 Genes play a crucial role in health - and in every disease. The completion of the Human Genome Project in April 2003, in which the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) played a critical leadership role, is revolutionizing research into every human illness. Together, patients and their health care providers have entered the genome era, and soon will routinely use genomic tools to prevent, detect, and treat all illnesses. We are at the start of an historic era in which genomic knowledge will transform the current one-size-fits all strategy of medical care to a customized, personalized treatment strategy based on the individual genetic make up of each of us.
To make this vision a reality, NHGRI leads numerous efforts that will translate the hard-won knowledge of genomics into clinical applications. Studies of human genetic variation - starting with the NHGRI-led International HapMap Project that laid the foundation for understanding human variation - have produced a completely new research approach that has, in the past year-and-a-half, successfully associated hundreds of genes to common diseases for the first time. Such findings will dramatically speed up medical advances.
Moreover, NHGRI supports and leads other revolutionary approaches to medical research, such as the Human Microbiome Project, which seeks to map all the bacteria and other microorganisms that live in and on the human body and understand their contribution to health and disease. Through The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), NHGRI, working with the National Cancer Institute, has applied large-scale genomic technologies to understanding the origins of cancer, an essentially genetic group of diseases. NHGRI's own intramural researchers pioneer a range of translational research, including developing new approaches to treating rare disorders such as Gaucher disease and common, but too often neglected diseases, such a schistosomiasis.
Meanwhile, NHGRI maintains its commitment to the basic research that underlies this progress. The institute continues to invest in the development of new technologies and techniques to understand the structure and function of human DNA, such as those in the ENCODE and ModENCODE projects, which seek to elucidate the pathways and networks that use genetic information to breathe life into each human cell.
NHGRI also continues its historic focus on the ethical, legal, and social implications of genomics and vigorously supports numerous research efforts in these areas.
This is an exciting time for science, which presents unparalleled opportunities to improve human health. I am particularly proud - as a scientist, physician, and patient - to be at the helm of an institute that is leading so much of this work. NHGRI is the institute for everyone with DNA.
Alan E. Guttmacher, M.D.
Acting Director
National Human Genome Research Institute
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Last Reviewed: February 9, 2009
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