Description of Whitehead Institute/MIT Center for Genome Research
The Whitehead Institute/MIT Center for Genome Research has served as the flagship of the Human Genome Project, the international effort to identify the blueprint for a human being. Founded in 1990, the Center grew to become one of the largest genome centers in the world and an international leader in the field of genomics, the study of all of the genes in an organism and how they function together in health and disease. In addition to sequencing, the Center has an active program in Functional Genomics and has developed many important tools for functional genomic analysis, including dense collections of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Today, the Center houses a broad range of thriving research programs combining structural genomics, medical and population genetics, and clinical medicine. The Center employs 350 people, including scientists and medical researchers from Whitehead, MIT and Harvard.