The Future of GeneticsThe HGP began in 1990, is a 13-year effort coordinated and funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Institutes of Health. The goals of the Human Genome Project are to identify all 100,000 genes in human DNA; determine the sequences of the 3 billion chemical base pairs that make up human DNA; store this information in databases; develop tools for data analysis; transfer related technologies to the private sector; and address ethical, legal and social issues (ELSI) that may arise from the project. A working draft of the human sequence was completed earlier this year, in 2000. The United States Human Genome Project (HGP), composed of the DOE and NIH human genome programs, is the nationally coordinated effort to characterize all human genetic material by determining the complete DNA sequence in the human genome. The ultimate goal of the HGP is to discover the more than 80,000 human genes and make them accessible for further biological studies. To facilitate future interpretation of the function of human genes, parallel studies are underway in selected model organisms, such as Drosophilia Melanogaster and Caenorhabditis elegans. According to the Energy Program Department report, a perfect draft of the human sequence is expected by 2003. Some of the methods used by geneticists to map the human gene are atomic force microscopy of biochemically labeled DNA, intracellular flow karyotyping, and l electrotransformation for DNA introduction into industrial bacilli Intracellular flow karyotyping appears to be a feasible and advantageous method for analyzing karyotypic aberrations of single cells using flow cytogenetics. The flow karyotyping method allows the quantification of chromosomal DNA by flow cytometry and thus the analysis of chromosomal aberrations on chromosome suspensions. Amounts of data that provide statistical significance can be rapidly collected, and the approach allows for accurate mapping of chromosomal DNA composition. The limitation of the method is at the cellular level of analysis, i.e. the impossibility of detecting low frequency or heterogeneous events with this method. The aim of this intracellular flow karyotyping project is to improve the technology to extend the method to the analysis of single cell karyotyping aberrations. This technology could be particularly useful for the detection and quantification of heterogeneous anomalies. Chromosomal changes of this type occur through exposure to ionizing radiation and are involved in karyotype instability and tumorigenesis. This approach will be studied both for biological dosimetry purposes, especially in low-dose settings (counting of abnormal cells, counting of abnormalities per cell), and for research purposes (karyotype instability known as tumorigenesis).