Human Genome Sequencing Center

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The Baylor College of Medicine Human Genome Sequencing Center (BCM-HGSC) was established by Richard A. Gibbs in 1996 when BCM was chosen as one of six worldwide sites to complete the final phase of the International Human Genome Project. Gibbs is the current director of the BCM-HGSC.

It occupies more than 36,000 square feet, employs over 200 staff, including eighteen faculty, and is one of three National Institutes of Health funded genome centers that were involved in the completion of the first Human Genome Sequence in 2004. The BCM-HGSC contributed approximately 10 percent of the total project by sequencing Chromosomes 3, 12 and X. The BCM-HGSC collaborated with researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory and Celera Genomics to sequence the first species of fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster. The BCM-HGSC also completed the second species of fruit fly (Drosophila pseudoobscura), the honeybee (Apis mellifera), and led an international consortium to sequence the Brown Norway rat.

The Human Genome Sequencing Center is currently working to sequence and annotate the genome of the cow (Bos taurus) using a whole genome shotgun approach. The BCM-HGSC is also sequencing the genomes of other important organisms, including: the sea urchin, Rhesus macaque, Tammar wallaby, Dictyostelium discoideum, and a number of bacteria that cause serious infections (Rickettsia typhi, Enterococcus faecium, Mannheimia Haemolytica, and Fusobacterium nucleatum). The BCM-HGSC is also actively engaged in a program to sequence all human cDNAs.

Other research within the BCM-HGSC includes new molecular technologies for mapping and sequencing, exploration of novel chemistries for DNA tagging, development of instrumentation for DNA manipulation, building new computer programs for genomic data analysis, and studying the genes expressed in childhood leukemias, the genomic differences that lead to evolutionary changes, the role of host genetic variation in the course of infectious disease, and the molecular basis of specific genetic diseases. The HGSC has an active bioinformatics program, with research projects involving biologists and computer scientists. Problems under study focus on developing tools for generating, manipulating, and analyzing genome data.