In 2004, the Ó³»´«Ã½ was founded with an ambitious goal: to leverage the newly sequenced human genome and fulfill the promise of genomic medicine. We celebrate 20 years of progress toward understanding the roots of disease and narrowing the gap between new biological insights and impact for human health.
Our origins
During the earliest days of the Ó³»´«Ã½, we focused on building a new kind of biomedical research institute and doing science in a new kind of way: taking on big challenges with open, interdisciplinary, and collaborative teamwork.
To learn more about how the Ó³»´«Ã½ got started, watch the of our 20th anniversary celebration, Origin Stories: How Ó³»´«Ã½â€™s earliest days sparked two decades of innovation, which took place on June 5, 2024. This story-telling event featured some of Ó³»´«Ã½â€™s longest-serving scientists and other team members whose pioneering work on the Human Genome Project, the International HapMap Project, and other efforts built the foundation for the approach to research and community that still define the Ó³»´«Ã½ today.
Our science
Whether it's charting the breadth of human genetic variation, unearthing new opportunities for cancer treatment, pioneering technologies for sequencing thousands of single cells, or engineering ways for precisely editing individual genomes, our researchers and collaborators across academia and industry have helped revolutionize our understanding of human biology, health, and disease over the last two decades. Mapping scientific publications is one way to visualize how our science has evolved.
Our people
Our people are what makes us special. We are a vibrant community of faculty, trainees, clinicians, and professional researchers from many disciplines, all working together to narrow the gap between biological insight and impact for patients.
Our culture
Hear stories of how vision, creativity, scrappiness, struggle, and teamwork were key to Ó³»´«Ã½â€™s early successes and are still reflected in the institute’s research and culture today.
Our impact
The impact of our research and approach is visible in many ways, including the foundational datasets we’ve generated that are propelling science at Ó³»´«Ã½ and beyond; the new biological insights into rare disease, cancer, and psychiatric disorders that are moving into the clinic; our responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, and more.
Our future
As we reflect on our scientific accomplishments from the last 20 years, we also look forward to the next frontiers in biomedicine in search of new innovations that will move us closer to making transformational impacts in the clinic.
Image on the left: Researchers shared their work at Ó³»´«Ã½Connect Poster Day in 2022, which brought together nearly 90 posters and 900 Ó³»´«Ã½ies from across the institute, including many early-career scientists. Credit: Anthem Multimedia