Luncheon Address

Luncheon Address
May 16, 1998
1:30 - 2:30 PM

Introduction: Marian Gray Secundy, PhD
Speaker: Georgia Dunston, PhD, Director, Human Genome Research Program, Professor and Interim Chair, Department of Microbiology, Howard University College of Medicine

Good afternoon. Thank you, Marian, for those very kind words of introduction. Let me also commend the planners of this conference for a very thoughtful and well-organized program. The presentations and discussions have been very engaging, informative, and quite provocative. I am very pleased with the opportunity to participate and wish to thank Toby Citrin for inviting me to give the Luncheon Address at the close of this national conference on "Genome Horizons: Public Deliberations and Policy Pathways." I think we can all agree that this conference has been a very effective forum for disseminating insights and perspectives gained from the consolidation of information acquired through focus group, community dialogue, and policy phases of the three year "Genome Technology and Reproduction: Values and Public Policy" project, presented here by the University of Michigan and the Michigan State University Center for Ethics and Humanities in the Life Sciences. The different forms of group process used by the Michigan group in the study design of this project are a model for addressing difficulties that arise with issues, such as genome technology and reproductive genetics, in which high technical and scientific complexity merges with issues involving emotionally charged ethical, moral, and religious views.

The objectives for this Luncheon Address as posed by the conference planners are threefold: to (1) synthesize the themes and issues presented over the course of the conference; (2) provoke thought on what policy issues may lie ahead as genetic technology progresses, and (3) encourage conference participants to engage in an inclusive process of responsible genetic education, opinion gathering, and policy making in their fields of endeavor. In contemplating how to structure my comments in line with these three objectives, I was impressed by how the two words "Genome Horizons" in the title of this conference so cogently encompass the objectives. Thus, I have chosen to order my comments in line with a consideration of the two words, "genome" and "horizons," which together provide the context for a synthesis of the themes and issues that formed the content of this conference. These two words also provoke thought on policy issues emerging as a consequence of the tremendous increases in genetic information, which beckon us to consider the impact of advances in genome technology and reproduction on social values and public policy. Lastly, the title "Genome Horizons" presents a challenge to move forward in our various endeavors and communities to address issues presented here, empowered by the information gained and strategies learned from this conference.

I will begin with the term "genome" and discuss ways in which the tremendous increase in genetic information resulting from the Human Genome Project relates to the themes and issues presented in this conference. I will then consider the term "horizons," with special attention to policy issues emerging from advances in genome science and technology, and conclude with some thoughts on the concept of "genome horizons" and the ultimate merger of the scientific and lay community through public deliberations and policy pathways.

Let me now begin this address on "Genome Horizons" with a working definition of the term "genome," as popularized in the emergence of the Human Genome Project. The genome can be defined simply as one haploid set of chromosomes with the genes they contain. As a haploid set, the human genome contains one of each of the twenty-three sets of human chromosomes that collectively contain the complete genetic blueprint for the construction, operation, and maintenance of the human body. The human genome is embedded deep within the recesses of the trillions of nucleated cells in the human body. Each of us has inherited one haploid set of chromosomes (i.e., the genome) from each parent. Because each generation passes on its inheritance of the genome to the next, all generations of humankind from the beginning of human history to the present day are linked by the omnipresent human genome, which can also be characterized as the longest living repository of humankind's shared biological history. While knowledge of the existence of the human genome is not new, the attention of both the scientific and lay communities was focused on the human genome in 1990 with the emergence of the Human Genome Project. With a projected budget of three billion dollars and the goal of providing a complete sequence map of the estimated three billion nucleotides in the human genome by year 2005, the Human Genome Project has been lauded as the single most expensive big science project ever undertaken by biologists for the benefit of humankind. The impact of the Human Genome Project on genome technology and reproductive genetics is significant. A major spin-off of the Human Genome Project has been the development of genome technology, in addition to genetic maps now widely used in genome-wide searches for the estimated 50,000 to 100,000 genes scattered across the human genome. Large segments of the biomedical research community are engaged in plumbing the depths of the human genome (i.e., humankind's shared ancestry) in search of genes that are believed in large measure to be both the culprits in many disease and prized determiners of health. Successes in the enterprise of "gene hunting" have been a major factor in the burgeoning arena of reproductive genetics and a significant contributor to the themes and issues covered in this conference.

It has been stated that information emerging from the Human Genome Project will be the source book for biomedical science in the 21st century. This statement deserves attention when we consider the fact that the haploid set of chromosomes (i.e., genome) defines both the broad context and specific content of information for all biological processes underlying health and disease, and that we are still in the dawn of gene discovery. Thus, many of the themes and issues covered during the course of this conference on genome technology and reproduction are just one example of the kinds of questions invoked by genetic information. Therefore, the different forms of the process of public deliberation and policy pathways modeled here are simply prologues for a future that will be shaped by the information emerging from the Human Genome Project.

The avalanche of DNA sequence data coming forth from human genome research not only speaks to the search for genes underlying various devastating diseases and disease susceptibilities, but also to DNA sequences that speak to biological kinship of individuals, families, populations, and ultimately, all of humanity. Because at the level of the genome the distinctions between individuals as autonomous members of a group become blurred, DNA sequence-based biology poses special problems for social structures, as well as for legal and ethical systems vested in concepts of individual autonomy and phenotypic group categorizations, such as races. Likewise, at the genotypic level, the science of genetics, which traditionally has focused on the study of genes as discrete entities, must now reckon with individual genes as a part of gene families. Patterns of complexity in variation found within and between gene families do not fit with biomedical models which assume a very limited diallelic, "normal" versus "variant" genetic basis of disease, which grossly underestimates the range of normal variation in DNA sequences. Clearly, one of the major lessons emerging from studies of the human genome at the DNA sequence level is that the "norm" in biology is variation. Disease related variants must be distinguished within the context of nested sequences of natural variation. When a mutation occurs in any cell of the body, called somatic cells, that mutation or change in the DNA, if not lethal, will be passed on the next generation of cells when the cell divides. If the mutation occurs in a germ cell (i.e., sperm or egg), there is a probability that it will be passed on through the genetic material to the child of the parent with the mutation. The parent and child who inherited the mutation then share the mutated gene that is identical by descent. The DNA sequences flanking the region of the mutation can be used to establish the unique haplotype (i.e., alignment of DNA sequences inherited as a unit) which can be used to trace the transmission of that particular mutation in the family. A mutation is not an isolated event. It occurs in the context of an identifiable sequence of nucleotides (i.e., a specific haplotype). Thus, a complete sequence map of the human genome will make it possible to define the unique haplotype of disease-associated mutations in individuals with the disease. The variant haplotype can then be used to trace the disease in other members of the family. Moreover, the prevalence of the haplotype on which the mutation occurred can also be determined in the population. The use of more refined disease-related haplotypes in disease diagnoses can and most likely will enhance our understanding of individual, familial, and population variability in health and disease.

In many ways, genome technology and the capacity to measure DNA sequence variation has outpaced the development of appropriate tools to effectively analyze the data needed to better understand the meaning or biomedical significance of the plethora of DNA sequence variation generated. Advances in computational biology are required to manage and effectively analyze the massive outpouring of DNA sequence data. In this respect, data is being generated faster than new ways of analyzing it are evolving. The consequence is that old models based on fewer variables are being used to analyze new information with new variables that are not being considered in the old models. Thus, new insights inherent in new patterns encoded in sequence data are not yet being fully analyzed. New theoretical constructs must emerge to accommodate the new information. Genome science may be at a critical juncture in data analysis where a paradigm shift is imminent. Clearly, new analytical tools based on more variables are needed to model the reality of DNA sequence-based biology.

Biological anthropologists and population geneticists are already using the rich resource of natural variation in the human genome to reconstruct population history. Although no known biological product is encoded by much of the natural variation in the genome, it is nonetheless transmitted from generation to generation through the genome, much like classical genes. Thus, natural variation in DNA sequences is a very rich source of information on family and population history, and as such is making available a more complete view of the latter that can be related to other historical records. The results of research in areas of molecular evolution on gene genealogies in human populations are challenging old ways of characterizing racial and ethnic groups, which traditionally have been based on phenotypic, linguistic, and/or cultural differences.

The view of biology from the perspective of the genome, as defined by DNA sequences, will potentially challenge all aspects of our understanding of human biology and human identity. The emergence of genome genetics and the consideration of whole genomes as distinct entities with many and varied movable parts, parallel views of humankind as one humanity with many and varied individuals, families, and populations. Thus, the inner picture of humanity encoded in the human genome as well as the fully expressed phenotype, is comprised of discrete parts that are interdependent and interconnected from the perspective of DNA sequence biology. Knowledge gained from model organisms studied in conjunction with the Human Genome Project will bring into focus relationships among all biology. Patterns of variability inculcated at the fundamental genomic level of biological life are translated throughout all the other realms of biology, including social, cultural, and legal systems that are an extension of biology and so is technology. Thus, in addition to being defined as one haploid set of chromosomes with the genes they contain, the genome is recognized as a dynamic biological unit comprised of billions of interdependent and interrelated units, organized hierarchically in families that work together as a concerted whole. As such, lessons learned from the human genome may not only impact medicine, but also science and society.

It is perhaps noteworthy that the emergence of the Human Genome Project at this juncture in the evolution of Western science is not only impacting the way "we view" biology, but also how "we do" biology. The Human Genome Project is unique among the hard sciences in having as part of its initial core a component to anticipate and address ethical, legal, and social issues emanating from the advancement of knowledge gained from the science. Because of inherent variation in the genome, the Human Genome Project, perhaps like no other leading edge of Western science, challenges science to expand (i.e., make more inclusive) the context or measure of humanity, in order to better understand the content (i.e., genome and inner dimensions) of human biology and medicine. As the Human Genome Project progresses from the current stage of structural genomics to the next stage of functional genomics, the absolute importance of population variability in the genetic diagnosis, treatment and management of complex diseases can not be marginalized or ignored if genome science and technology is to significantly impact public health. It's perhaps noteworthy to consider the importance and essential requirement of the family construct in the study design used to map and identify genes. It's as if the capacity of scientists to unlock the genome's virtual treasure chest of biological wisdom is coupled with a requirement to acknowledge and respect the value of genome variability clustered in families and globally distributed in populations. Systems of genome variation have served as a guiding light for constructing genetic maps used by scientists to locate and find disease-causing genes.

Genome science has ushered in the era of molecular medicine and in doing so, shifted the focus in biology to the "inside story" for a more refined diagnosis of disease. It's also noteworthy that the cooperation and collective skills of large coalitions of conventional laboratory scientists, novel community-oriented biomedical research investigators, community advocates, and an informed participant population are increasingly required to conduct genome science in medicine. These "mega" collaborative research teams are required to connect the multi-levels of science and society.

As medicine becomes increasingly more customized and made to order, "designer medicine," the themes and issues presented during this conference on Genome Technology and Reproduction will demand more attention. In her introduction, Marian Secundy stated that I am director of the Howard University Human Immunogenetics Laboratory. A primary focus of research in this laboratory is the characterization of genomic variation among African Americans in the human major histocompatibility region, called the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) system, and the association of HLA variability in this population with various disease susceptibilities. HLA genes code for cell surface molecules responsible for the rejection of transplanted tissues and organs. Although not addressed in this conference, genome technology and clinical transplantation is another area of science in which knowledge at the level of DNA sequences is impacting the practice of medicine, stimulating public deliberations, and forging policy pathways. The results of numerous studies have shown that the selection of donor and recipient for HLA compatibility can significantly influence the long-term survival of a transplanted organ or tissue. Also, in pharmacogenetics, population variability has been reported in genes encoding molecules involved in the metabolism of drugs that influence response to therapies and the selection and/or choice of drugs and medicines used to correct or counter disease. The use of DNA samples in paternity cases and forensic medicine are other examples of high technical and scientific complexity merged with ethical, legal, and social issues. As biology converges more on DNA sequence-based knowledge, medical science, the practice of medicine, as well as law and political science must change and adapt in response to the ethical, legal, and social challenges and questions raised by the emergence of genome technology and the human genome sciences.

Let me now consider more directly the term "horizons" in this two words-motivated address on Genome Horizons. "Horizons" implies perspective, an outlook of what’s before us in the distance. Certainly this conference has dealt extensively with themes and issues in genome technology and reproduction that society is now facing, but also will increasingly face as society is forced to contend with the growing knowledge base of DNA sequence-based biology already discussed. In addition to a sense of what's before us, the term horizon defines a place where the sky and earth apparently meet, a place before us where apparent opposites come together as one. Thus, the horizons may be seen as a vantage point for the union of the two apparent extremes of humanity, the inner human genotype and the outer human phenotype. Oddly enough, the tremendous variability inherent in the human genome that science and society must now contend with may be the agent for the convergence of the two. While the degree of variation in the human genome may be overwhelming, it is the variation at the DNA sequence level that sparked the call for a special project to map and sequence the human genome. In fact, two major catalytic events in the rapid success of scientists in constructing comprehensive linkage maps were: (1) the recognition of a variety of highly polymorphic (i.e., inherited variability) sequences in genome systems distributed ubiquitously on all chromosomes, and (2) the availability of several well characterized large families with extensive pedigree data, which can be used in linkage analyses to determine haplotypes. This group of reference families is known as the CEPH (acronym for Centre E'tude du Polymorphism, the English translation being Center for the Study of Human Polymorphisms) reference panel. This was a rich resource of families that had been collected over years and used in various genetic studies, which was available to the scientific community to be used as a common resource for construction of linkage maps, the first genome maps produced in the Human Genome Project. It's noteworthy that the successful formula for the first comprehensive human genome map was an international group of scientists working together using a common set of families and pooling the data. The result has been a dense linkage map generated ahead of schedule and under budget, which is a core resource for locating specific genes of interest in relationship to how close they are to markers on the map.

A second lesson emerging from the perspective of the human genome is that the biology as it is currently known represents a very small fraction of the total genome. If the average gene is estimated to be about 1,000 nucleotides encoding a protein molecule of approximately 333 amino acids, then on average the estimated 100,000 genes in the human genome would represent only 3% of the DNA sequence. Moreover, anthropologists have estimated that a smaller percentage of the 3%, perhaps less than 1% of the total gene pool, encodes the phenotypic characteristics often used in Western science to classify human population groups. In other words, the product of every gene that we can see and/or measure, such as physical appearance, variation in skin color, eye color, hair texture, height, weight, anatomy, blood types, and clinical phenotypes is determined by a very small fraction of the DNA sequence in the genome. Thus, the very small fraction of the genome that has traditionally defined biology, expressed genes, is only the tip of the larger mass of DNA sequence data that encodes no expressed products. Much like apparently discrete parts of a vast iceberg submerged below the surface of the ocean, the part of the genome that encodes discrete products has been observed at the phenotypic level as isolated and distinct entities, unknowingly connected to the huge mass of DNA sequence that defines the human genome. Topological attempts to group the parts based on observable characteristics such as size, shape, and contours temporarily define extremely slow, but imperceptibly changing, characteristics of the observed entities. If parallels are now drawn to human populations, it is said that physical features often used in Western science to distinguish one group of humans from another are based on differences that represent less than 1% of expressed genes. One can immediately appreciate the folly in attempting to group human populations into categories based on differences in less than 1% of the genome to study and understand variation that is distributed in the other 99%. It's no wonder that within-group variation among the so-called human racial groups has been found to be greater than between-group variation. A better design might be to structure biological groups based on DNA sequence homology. For the first time in human history, scientists are able to study the whole genome as a unit. New information from the genome level indicates that much of the phenotypic variation in human populations traditionally used to define racial and ethnic groups appears to be due to relatively recent events in human evolutionary history. Vast stretches of unexpressed DNA submerged below the phenotype encode molecular data on human history that dates back in evolutionary time much further than perceived phenotypic characteristics. The vast stores of unexpressed genetic information suggest that all human populations are much more alike that any apparent differences based on phenotype. Thus, the perspective of the genome provides a vantage point from which the "Genome Horizons" show before us the appearance of a union where perceived differences in human populations are one.

DNA sequence-based biology challenges us to use this knowledge as a basis for reuniting the human family. It is somewhat ironic that the incomplete picture of human variation which has been used historically to segregate, isolate, and dehumanize peoples worldwide can now be a resource of healing the great divide between peoples of all nations. If DNA sequence-based biology is to be science-driven, then scientists and the lay community together must swim out into the deep waters of the human genome and examine all the data in order to obtain a more complete understanding of individual, familial, population, and indeed, human identity. The knowledge is at hand for those who dare to seek it with an open mind.

Let me now share a few concluding thoughts on "Genome Horizons" as a view of the future for science and society that extends from a third important lesson which can be gleaned from advances in genome technology and genome science. The shift in perspective from genetics to genomics is a shift from a focus on individual parts as the functional unit, to the integrated whole (i.e., the genome) as the functional unit. This requires an incorporation and transcendence of identity at one level, here perhaps the phenotype, to move biologically to a deeper and much richer level (i.e., the genotype). From the vantage point of the fully integrated whole human family, heaven and earth appear to meet on the horizon of human evolution. Much talk has been made about the fragmentation of human society today. I sometimes think of the human genome as an inner, invisible expression of humankind, transmitted over eons of time and now waiting to be unmasked through genome technology. What do you see on the "Genome Horizons?" The genome itself challenges us to SEE and then move forward to envision a more complete picture of humanity. The human genome is a shared resource that we can examine together. DNA sequence-based biology can provide a new foundation for asking questions, resolving conflicts, and framing bold, new hypotheses about what defines humanity.

As we leave this conference on genome technology and reproduction, consider the information at hand that you can assimilate and in turn apply in your efforts to make more inclusive the process of responsible genetic education, opinion gathering, and policy making in your respective areas of endeavor, remembering that diversity is the watermark of humanity. In your focus groups, community dialogues, and conferences, let success be measured by the degree of variability that you are able to accommodate. I am convinced that there is order in the emergence of the Human Genome Project at this appointed time, the close of a century and dawning of a new millennium. The fact that the name of the project is "the Human Genome" is significant because the name caused many to ask the questions: What is the human genome? What makes it human? Is humanity encoded in biology? Is it in the sequence of nucleotides? Once the three billion nucleotides in the human genome have been ordered in the ultimate human genome map, will we then know our identity? The genome is the last rung of reductive thinking in an effort to find the roots of our biological identity. It defines the whole of our collective biological inheritance. The information that we now contend with in the Human Genome Project is unique among information in all of the sciences. It alone is the path inward, to the essence of biology, the study of life. It alone defines the path to our uniqueness as individuals in the larger context of the whole of biological life. I happen to be one who believes that as we close out this decade and move towards the "Genome Horizons" of a new millennium, humankind will overcome the current travail of the new day dawning.

It’s a paradigm shift that’s really transforming, not just changing, but transforming the way we define ourselves, the way we see ourselves, the way we see our world, and how we see ourselves in relationship to our world. And, I think that’s a good thing ^__ data that’s not just more of the same, but that has potential to actually transform how we define ourselves, how we define our world, and how we define ourselves in relationship to our world.

Since biological integrity is fundamental to health, the reconnection of humankind via DNA sequence data can be one of the greatest challenges of genome science to medicine. Realization of the essential character of human variation as the organizing principle for reconnecting humankind is fundamental to the view of the future. It is a future in which genome science and medicine are instrumental in not only unfolding the molecular basis of health and disease, but also a future in which genome science and advanced technology are instrumental in demonstrating the larger dimension and higher order of life inherent in a reconnected humankind. An order that awakens us to the knowledge of a shared inheritance that defines us individually and collectively.

Identity is fundamental to purpose. The human search for biological identity at the more comprehensive level of the genome may portend the unfolding of a more comprehensive purpose for humanity, a purpose in which everyone, like the human genome, shares individually and collectively. It is the human genome. It is no coincidence that the Human Genome Project has emerged during this period of time called the information age, characterized by mass communication and globalization. We must learn the lessons of genome variation and human diversity in our culture to successfully negotiate a global community. The ethical, legal, and social issues presented at this conference can be training for the global community. The Human Genome Project is international in scope, a scope that must be shaped and guided by international participation in resolving the great ethical, legal, and social issues raised by the advent of genome technology, reproductive genetics, and/or other genome sciences. The problem is not that issues of individual autonomy, genetic discrimination, genetic confidentiality, intellectual property, patent rights, informed consent, and the like raise difficult ethical, moral, and legal questions. Problems most often arise from differences in the way different individuals, groups, and cultures respond to and resolve problems. The successful negotiation of these challenges will be facilitated globally by the establishment of core values among interacting groups rooted in a shared vision of health for the community as a whole.

Therefore, the challenges and ideas that come forth from this meeting, as well as the strategies learned, can be amplified through our individual endeavors. At times, when events and people appear chaotic, it may be well to step back to get a larger view of reality. Consider the fact that we are human biological beings still in process. Mutation and migration, two primary forces that have shaped human evolutionary biology, are still operative. There is a phrase in the biology literature that says "ontogeny recapitulates phylogenetically." I understand the meaning of this phrase to be that ontogeny, the stages of development in the life of the individual, is replicated in phylogeny, the stages of development of the group. Major differences between the two perspectives are the time required to complete the life cycle of the individual versus the life cycle of the group, and the number of events (i.e., variables) that can be discriminated in a given time frame by the individual versus the group. The latter can be related to the longevity of a fact versus reality.

An example of this is illustrated as follows. Many of you can agree with me that there was a time in human history when human beings thought that man was the center of the universe, and the stars and the sun revolved around the earth. That view of reality was compatible with variables that could be discriminated with the naked eye. Clearly, anyone who gazed up at the heavens saw that the sun appears to rise in the east, follow an established course across the sky, and descend in the west. Thus, during this time many believed that the sun revolves around the earth. This view of reality posed no major problem for human beings, who are earth-bound. The invention of telescopes provided instruments for closer examination of the movement of heavenly bodies. To account for the additional variables, the astronomer Copernicus believed that the larger number of variables could be reconciled if the earth rotates on its axis and the planets revolve in orbits around the sun. Although such a view of the earth challenged the old Ptolemaic view of the earth as man's home in the center of God's creation and was considered heresy by the religious authorities of that day, it nonetheless was a more complete view of reality, knowledge that had to come forth if human beings were to realize their dream of air and space travel. Surely the reality of traveling to the moon would not have been possible without accurate knowledge of the earth's movement. The church did not readily relinquish its restricted and more limited view of reality. I can imagine that the time of Copernicus shared some similarities with our own for technology and astronomy. The highly technical and scientific view challenged established religious views, and raised ethical and moral dilemmas that the Church felt obliged to quash. Some scientists, like Galileo, died in the clash between science and religion.

Nonetheless, the time was ripe for a more complete view of reality, and human beings gradually accepted the greater reality and moved forward into the larger dimension of life within which to evolve. Since human evolution is still in process, there is space for even more complete realities. In more recent years, astronomers have observed that Earth's sun is not the center of the galaxy and that earth's solar system is just one of a myriad of stars with orbiting bodies in Earth's galaxy, called the milky way. Current reality reveals that even Earth's galaxy is not singular and is one of many galaxies in the universe. Indeed, the nested hierarchical structure of biology at the microscopic molecular level of DNA sequences is magnified at the telescopic macrostructural level in the heavens. Perhaps geology recapitulates in the universe as ontogeny recapitulates in phylogeny?

Given this view of reality in the heavens, it may be that the time is ripe for a more complete view of biology on Earth. It may be that the knowledge of human identity unfolding with DNA sequence-based biology requires a more complete reality, perhaps even a larger dimension of reality for humanity's next evolutionary stage of development. The information from the leading edge of human genome research suggest that human beings need a more complete view of reality—a playing field high enough to incorporate the more complete view of reality revealed in the heavens, broad enough to include the totality of human variation revealed in the sequence map of the human genome, and deep enough to encompass the hopes and aspirations of the whole of human history preserved for this day in the life cycle of human beings. I am confident that there are those among us who will successfully negotiate the difficult challenges that humanity faces. We would not be in this place at this point in time if that were not the case. If the time was not ripe for a more complete reality, our collective hearts would not burn with the desire to heal the great divide of humanity, to educate those in our communities who would know, but need a teacher, those who are asleep that must be awakened; to support and encourage those who are working to open public pathways of more effective communication and application of the knowledge. It is now that America is challenged nationally to close the gap in health status between majority and minority populations, and to move on to network with the global community in closing global gaps in human health. If the pathways to this more complete view of reality were not in place, the masses of people would not be so compelled. I get excited when I think about the fact that humanity is still in process, and what we now apprehend is not the end, but rather another rung in an open system called life. So when things don't go the way that you know they should in your focus groups, community dialogues, and policy meetings, don't think that it is all to no avail. Rest assured that this is not the end, things are in process; there is more to the whole story. In fact, I would venture to say, as much as perhaps 90% more!

We have just begun to plumb the depths of the human success story encoded in the genome, e.g., that which may be termed "junk" DNA because it can't be accommodated in the very incomplete view of biological reality revealed in 10% of the information seen through the lenses of expressed genes. However, today's "junk" DNA that many of the scientific elite might discard may be the centerpiece in the construction of the ultimate human genome sequence map. Those who are open to receive the new knowledge at hand must know that knowledge is not unidirectional. There will be times where the teacher is the learner and the expert, naïve. We must be comfortable with the knowledge that the professionals do not have a monopoly on key information. It might be that at times the way is not open because new knowledge is needed and the source of such knowledge may not yet be apparent. If this be the case, be patient and wait expectantly. The next right piece of information will come in order. Because we must learn to discern the flow of life, the biological capacity to do so is encoded in the genome.

It is again like the lesson in ontogeny. During the stages of development, the fetus is forming lungs while yet in the watery environment of the uterus. Although it does not require lungs for nine months of life during development in utero, the genome is busy preparing for the yet to be experienced life outside the womb. The information for lung formation is underway early in development and all is ready for air to be taken in and the lungs to function when the time comes. So it is with humanity at this stage in the process. Everything that I can see assures me that everything that I cannot see is ready for the next stage in human development. We may not know what is already in place, but I am persuaded that it will be worth the temporary discomforts and wait during the formative stages of any great masterpiece. As the expectant mother must abide waiting until the fullness of her time, so too must we wait for the full unfolding of the human genome. As equal stakeholders in life, all of humanity can join in the long awaited countdown to the third millennium and the impending sequence map of the human genome. It's comforting to know that just being human qualifies us to claim full identity in the more complete view of life. All that is required is a haploid set of chromosomes. Each of has a rich store of this inheritance in the trillions of nucleated cells in the human body. For this medium of exchange, there are no have’s and have not’s. There is this one glaring fact of nature; if we are here, we are a success story of life. Nature challenges us to look as far as the eye can see, with the aid of space technology and genome technology notwithstanding, and ponder the diversity of life.

Let me close with a question to a question passionately asked earlier in the meeting by one of the participants. The question asked was, "When does life begin?" The question that occurred to me in response to this question was - "If it is life, can it ever end?" Life by definition "is." So the question of when does life begin is clearly a matter of perspective from which the whole is perceived. The genome has existed from the beginning. The genome is a form of life. It meets all the biological criteria of a life form. It is a self-organizing, replicating form of life that contains within its volumes "wisdom of the ages." It is mind-boggling to think on the diversity of environments and challenges that it has adapted to and successfully negotiated to arrive at this moment in time. The human genome is indeed miraculous. Scientists may need to coin a new term to characterize this form of life.

In an audience such as this, it is not my intent for anyone to be unduly uncomfortable, but I must say to those of you who have not had very much experience working with minority groups in general and African-Americans in particular, be prepared for the inclusion of a spiritual dimension in life. For many people, the unseen spiritual dimension of life is more real than objective reality based on the limits of sensory perception. I would encourage you not to be judgmental, if the spiritual dimension is not your reality. Just understand that rational democratic deliberation may be the measure of intellectual knowledge, but the intellect is not the human genome's only way of knowing.

There is much to be learned when we recognize human variation as a gift and learn to treasure the patterns of diversity inherent in life. We must learn to accept and respect each other as a whole. Know that everyone is a success story from the perspective of the human genome. Each comes complete with all volumes in the book of life. When we greet each other from this perspective we might find that our dialogue will bring us closer to where we need to be in order to advance together as a group. To progress is simply to move ahead of the group, but to advance requires that the group progress. My desire is to see whole communities advance at this very exciting time in human evolutionary history. This will follow as we affirm the value of human variation and respect that everyone has the capacity to contribute to the complete view of the whole. Views of reality are a function of the degree of variation incorporated in it, and life is reality. As we leave this conference ready for new discoveries, consider this statement: it has been said that "the obstacle to discovery is not a lack of knowledge, but the illusion of knowledge." Thank you for your attention.