BCM-HGSC in the News

National DNA Day 2023: Inside look at BCM’s Human Genome Sequencing Center - (Tuesday, April 25, 2023)

In a special segment for National DNA Day, Fox 26 Houston reporter Chelsea Edwards visits the Baylor College of Medicine Human Genome Sequencing Center and talks with Dr. Richard Gibbs and the HGSC team about the history of the center and the cutting-edge research taking place in genomics. 

Baylor College of Medicine Human Genome Sequencing Center celebrates 20 years since the completion of the Human Genome Project - (Thursday, April 13, 2023)

On April 14, 2003, the National Human Genome Research Institute and its international partners, including the Baylor College of Medicine Human Genome Sequencing Center (BCM-HGSC), announced the completion of the Human Genome Project and the successful generation of a highly accurate and publicly available reference sequence of the human genome. 

To celebrate the anniversary of completion of this unprecedented project, carried out from 1990 to 2003 and considered one of the most ambitious and important scientific endeavors in human history, From the Labs sat with Dr. Richard Gibbs, director of the BCM-HGSC since its establishment in 1996, to learn about the role BCM has played in this landmark global scientific effort.

The Human Genome Project Turns 20: Here's How It Altered the World - (Tuesday, April 11, 2023)

Marking the 20th anniversary of the announcement of the first complete sequencing of the human genome, Gizmodo takes a look at the achievements and ongoing legacy of the ambitious Human Genome Project (HGP). The tech website also interviews Dr. Richard Gibbs, founding director of the Baylor College of Medicine Human Genome Sequencing Center, which was one of five institutions that together contributed around 80% of the data for the HGP. 

GigaScience names Dr. Fritz Sedlazeck guest editor for new T2T series - (Monday, April 3, 2023)

Dr. Fritz Sedlazeck of the Baylor College of Medicine Human Genome Sequencing Center and Dr. Jue Ruan of the Agricultural Genomics Institute at Shenzhen, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, have been named guest editors of a new thematic series by GigaScience highlighting the telomere-to-telomere (T2T) approach to gapless sequences. The series will focus on T2T papers, including discussions of standards and definitions, datasets, methods and technologies.

Shining a light on dark genes - (Tuesday, March 7, 2023)

The PacBio blog takes a look at recent studies that examine the benefits of incorporating long-read sequencing in population genomics programs.  Recently, HGSC's Dr. Fritz Sedlazeck led a collaborative project with Twist Bioscience and PacBio to optimize a gene panel for HiFi long-read technology. The main result of this study has been made available as the Twist Alliance Dark Genes Panel. 

HiFi long-read sequencing brings more accuracy to population genomics studies - (Sunday, January 22, 2023)

The PacBio blog shares findings from a recent preprint of a technical pilot comparing short- and long-read sequencing. The pilot was conducted by groups participating in the All of Us program, including the Baylor College of Medicine Human Genome Sequencing Center

Dr. Bo Yuan named editor of genetics journal - (Friday, January 20, 2023)

Dr. Bo Yuan, associate professor of molecular and human genetics, recently was appointed editor-in-chief of Genetics in Medicine Open, an official journal of the American College of Medical Genetics (ACMG) that launched January 2023. It is a companion open-access journal of ACMG’s flagship publication, Genetics in Medicine.

Remembering Dr. C. Thomas Caskey - (Friday, January 14, 2022)

Dr. C. Thomas Caskey, a pioneer in genetics and genomics and a professor of molecular and human genetics at Baylor College of Medicine, has died at the age of 83. Caskey built the genetics program at Baylor from the ground up, founding what is known today as the Department of Molecular and Human Genetics and growing the department into a national leader in genetics. He is remembered for his contributions to genetic research and his dedication to mentoring and developing the next generation of scientists and physicians.

Rhesus macaque genome study enhances our understanding of human genetic variation - (Thursday, January 7, 2021)

Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine, the University of Missouri and the University of Washington have taken a major step toward improving our understanding of the genetic variation in the rhesus macaque, the most widely studied nonhuman primate in biomedical research.

“We have actually identified thousands of new mutations in the population of research animals. Now colleagues all over the country who are investigating various aspects of health and disease using rhesus macaques can begin to make use of that information,” said Dr. Jeffrey Rogers, associate professor at the Human Genome Sequencing Center and Department of Molecular and Human Genetics at Baylor and one of the corresponding authors of the study.

Genome Sheds Light on One of the World’s Most Costly Agricultural Pests - (Monday, October 19, 2020)

The North Carolina Biotechnology Center reports on a recently published study of the genome of the western flower thrips, or Frankliniella occidentalis, a major pest of agriculture in California and the southeast U.S. The Human Genome Sequencing Center sequenced and assembled the genome for this study appearing in BMC Biology.