The Human Genome Project (HGP) was undoubtedly the most important biomedical research undertaking of the 20th Century, and arguably of the 21st Century so far, involving 2,400 scientists from six countries and 13 years of scientific endeavour.
25 years ago today, on June 26, 2000, President Bill Clinton hosted a celebration at the White House to announce the completion of the first draft of the human genome and to thank the scientists from the six countries involved – the USA, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan and China.
As President Clinton noted: “I'd also like to acknowledge the contributions not only that their [USA, UK, France, Germany, Japan] scientists, but also scientists from China, made to the vast international consortium that is the Human Genome Project.”
Although China was the last country to join the international consortium, it was strongly represented by BGI which had been formed in 1999 specifically for this endeavour, and ended up completing the sequencing of 30 million base pairs on chromosome 3, representing 1% of the total project.
The four co-founders of BGI (left to right): Wang Jian, Liu Siqi, Yu Jun, and Yang Huanming, in 1999.
The first draft of the HGP represented the identification of about 90% of DNA instructions. Not only was this a tremendous feat in its own right but, by making all the research findings freely available to scientists, it paved the way for the subsequent 25 years of genomic study and, for mankind, a clearer understanding of the causes of disease.
Reflecting on this achievement Francis Collins, former head of the U.S. National Institute of Health, and leader of the international consortium that completed the first draft of the human genome, told GEN, Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News, on June 13, 2025: “I reflect on it as having been a wonderful moment of being able to tell the world that we actually now have in hand – and it’s publicly accessible – roughly 90% of our own DNA instructions….And feeling incredible gratitude on my part for the 2,400 scientists in six countries who labored to make this happen. Not worrying about who was going to get the credit.”
The draft of the human genome, covering more than 90% of the DNA base pairs in the human body, was published in Nature (Volume 409, Issue 6822) on 15 February 2001. (Credit: Nature)
Scientific collaboration has been the hallmark of BGI Group’s endeavours ever since, resulting not only in a better understanding of our diseases and the composition of our bodies, but also of evolutionary cycles in the animal world, and insights on how plants evolve and adapt.
However, there is more than just discovery and knowledge. BGI’s scientific research and advanced spatial transcriptome technology such as Stereo-seq has helped identify new breeds of perennial rice and legumes that are more resistant to disease. The technology has also identified how genes interact with each other, creating new pathways for disease discoveries and leading to new treatments for diseases and potentially their prevention and eradication.
As of June 13, 2025, BGI has published a total of 5,686 papers, including 699 articles in ‘CNNS’ publications (the leading academic journals Cell, Nature, New England Journal of Medicine, Science, and their related publications, if any) with 174 published in the flagship journals.
All of this research has been made publicly available to the global scientific community. This commitment to scientific research has also led to BGI being placed in the leadership position in the Asia Pacific biological sciences corporate institutions in the annual Nature Index of Research Leaders rankings for more than a decade.
While so many scientific discoveries have resulted from the past quarter century, the speed of research continues to accelerate as discoveries build on each other. This promises even greater discoveries to come in the next 25 years, perhaps resulting in that holy grail of research a cure for cancer.
What we have discovered in the past 25 years far outweighs the cost of the HGP. It has been a true benefit to mankind, it has brought omics into the realm of everyone and BGI is immensely proud to have been a part of this success.
Congratulations HGP as you celebrate your silver anniversary and we look forward to celebrating your gold anniversary in another 25 years!