Learning About the Human Genome Project and Genetics Through the World Wide Web

The Web offers the easiest path to learning about the Human Genome Project and related genetics topics. Some useful sites to visit are included in the list below compiled by Denise K. Casey, Science Writer/Editor, Human Genome News, Human Genome Management Information System, Phone: 423/574-0597; Fax: 423/574-9888, Email: caseydk@ornl.gov

Human Genome Project

Human Genome Project Information, http://www.ornl.gov/hgmis/: Comprehensive site covering topics related to the U.S. and worldwide Human Genome Projects. Useful for updating scientists and providing educational material for nonscientists, in support of DOE's commitment to public education. Developed and maintained for DOE by the Human Genome Management Information System (HGMIS) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

U.S. DOE Human Genome Program, http://www.er.doe.gov/production/ober/hug_top.html: Devoted to the DOE component of the U.S. Human Genome Project and to the DOE Microbial Genome Program. Links to many other sites.

NIH National Human Genome Research Institute, http://www.nhgri.nih.gov: Site of the NIH sector of the U.S. Human Genome Project.

DOE Human Genome Program Publications

[* indicates hard copy available from HGMIS]

*Human Genome News, http://www.ornl.gov/hgmis/publicat/publications.html: Quarterly newsletter reporting on the worldwide Human Genome Project.

*To Know Ourselves, 1996, http://www.ornl.gov/hgmis/tko/: Booklet reviewing DOE's role, history, and achievements in the Human Genome Project and introducing the science and other aspects of the project.

*Primer on Molecular Genetics (1992) http://www.ornl.gov/hgmis/publicat/publications.html: Explains the science behind the genome research.

Ethical, Legal, and Social Issues Related to Genetics Research

HGMIS Gateways Web page, http://www.ornl.gov/hgmis/links.html Choose "Ethical, Legal, and Social Issues."

National Bioethics Advisory Commission (NBAC) home page,: http://www.nih.gov/nbac/nbac.htm; The bioethics committee offers advice to the National Science and Technology Council and others on bioethical issues arising from research related to human biology and behavior.

National Center for Genomic Resources, http://www.ncgr.org/: Comprehensive Genetics and Public Issues page; includes congressional bills related to genetic privacy.

Center for Bioethics, University of Pennsylvania, http://www.med.upenn.edu/~bioethic/ ,: Full-text articles about such ethical issues as human cloning; includes a primer on bioethics.

Eubios Ethics Institute, http://www.biol.tsukuba.ac.jp/~macer/index.html: Site includes newsletter summarizing literature in bioethics and biotechnology.

ELSI in Science, http://www.lbl.gov/Education/ELSI/ELSI.html: Teaching modules designed to stimulate discussion on implications of scientific research.
: ELSI issues for high school students and a selection of images.

Courts and Science On-Line Magazine (CASOLM), http://www.ornl.gov/courts/: Coverage of genetic issues affecting the courts.

Genetic Privacy Act, http://www.ornl.gov/hgmis/resource/elsi.html: Model legislation written with support of the DOE Human Genome Program.
: Bimonthly newsletter to inform consumers and professionals about advances in genetics and encourage discussion about emerging policy dilemmas.

Your Genes, Your Choices, http://ehrweb.aaas.org/ehr/books/index.html: Booklet written in simple English, describing the Human Genome Project; the science behind it; and how ethical, legal, and social issues raised by the project may affect people's everyday lives.

Medical Genetics

A comprehensive, authoritative, and up-to-date human gene and genetic disorder catalog that supports medical genetics and the Human Genome Project.

Links to OMIM

GeneCards, http://bioinformatics.weizmann.ac.il/cards/: A database of more than 6000 genes; describes their functions, products, and biomedical applications.

Support groups for people with genetic diseases and their families, http:///gec/support/index.html: Directory of National Genetic Voluntary Organizations and Related Resources.

Gene Therapy, http://www.mc.vanderbilt.edu/gcrc/gene/index.html: Web course covering the basics, with links to other sites.

NIH Office of Recombinant DNA Activities, http://www.nih.gov/od/orda/: Includes a database of human gene therapy protocols.

Blazing a Genetic Trail, http://www.hhmi.org/GeneticTrail: Illustrated booklet from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute on hunting for disease genes.

Understanding Gene Testing, http://www.accessexcellence.org/ae/AE/AEPC/NIH/index.html: Illustrated brochure from the National Cancer Institute.

Promoting Safe and Effective Genetic Testing in the United States (1997), http://www.med.jhu.edu/tfgtelsi/: Principles and recommendations by a joint NIH-DOE Human Genome Project group that examined the development and provision of gene tests in the United States.

General Genetics and Biotechnology

Many of the following sites contain links to both educational and technical material.

HGMIS Community Education and Outreach Gateways Web page, http://www.ornl.gov/hgmis/links.html
Access Excellence site, http://www.accessexcellence.org/: Extensive genetic and biotechnology resources for teachers and nonscientists

MIT Biology Hypertextbook, http://esg-www.mit.edu:8001/esgbio/7001main.html: All the basics.
: Links to Web tutorials in biology, genetics, and more.

Genetics Education Center, University of Kansas Medical Center, /gec: Educational information on human genetics, career resources.

The Why Files, http://whyfiles.news.wisc.edu: Illustrated explanations of the science behind the news.

Classic papers in genetics, http://www.esp.org: Covers the early years, with introductory notes. See also Access Excellence site above for genetics history.

Mendel Web, http://www.netspace.org/MendelWeb/: Explores the origins of classical genetics, introductory data analysis, elementary plant science, and the history of science.

Human Genome Education Program at Stanford Human Genome Center, http://www-shgc.stanford.edu/bio-ed/: Includes genome curricula and numerous resources, especially for K*12 teachers.

Cell & Molecular Biology Online, http://www.cellbio.com: Links to electronic publications, current research, educational and career resources, and more.

CERN Virtual Library, Genetics section, Biosciences division, http://www.ornl.gov/TechResources/Human_Genome/genetics.html: Includes an organism index linking to other pertinent databases, information on the U.S. and international Human Genome Projects, and links to research sites.

Genetic and biological resources links, http://www.er.doe.gov/production/ober/bioinfo_center.html
Welch Web, http://www.welch.jhu.edu: Links to many Internet biomedical resources, dictionaries, encyclopedias, government sites, libraries, and more, from the Johns Hopkins University Welch Library.

Howard Hughes Medical Institute, http://www.hhmi.org: Home page of major U.S. philanthropic organization that supports research in genetics, cell biology, immunology, structural biology, and neuroscience. Excellent introductory information on these topics.

BIO Online (Biotechnology Industry Organization), http://www.bio.com: Comprehensive directory of biotechnology sites on the Internet.

BioTech, http://biotech.chem.indiana.edu: An interactive educational resource and biotech reference tool; includes a dictionary of 6000 life science terms.
Careers in Genetics, http://www.faseb.org/genetics/gsa/careers/bro-menu.htm: Online booklet from the Genetics Society of America, including several profiles of geneticists. See also career sections of sites specified above, such as Access Excellence.

Cloning: In Our Own Image, http://www.latimes.com/news/science/science/: Special report from the Los Angeles Times, with links to bioethics sites.

Bugs 'N Stuff, http://www.ncgr.org/microbe/: List microbial genomes being sequenced, research groups, genome sizes, and facts about selected organisms. Links to related sites.

Microbial Database, http://www.tigr.org/tdb/mdb/mdb.html: Lists completed and in-progress microbial genomes, with funding sources.
: Teaching materials for all levels. Includes mini-lessons on selected scientific topics, two online magazines, What's New, software, catalogs, and publications.

Database of Genome Sizes, http://www.cbs.dtu.dk/databases/DOGS/index.html: Lists numerous organisms with genome sizes, scientific and common names, classifications, and references.

Genetics Glossary, http://www.ornl.gov/hgmis/publicat/glossary.html: Glossary of terms related to genetics.

Hispanic Educational Genome Project, http://caldera.calstatela.edu/hgp/: Designed to educate high school students and their families about genetics and the Human Genome Project. Links to other projects.

Natural History of Genes, http://raven.umnh.utah.edu: Genetic science activities and hands-on experiments for teachers and students.

Science and Mathematics Resources, http://www-sci.lib.uci.edu: More than 2000 Web references, including Frank Potter's Science Gems and Martindale's Health Science Guide. For teachers at all levels.

Opportunities for student internships around the United States:

Genome Data Repositories

HGP goals are to generate maps for 24 different human chromosomes with biochemical landmarks spaced at least every 100,000 bases and, ultimately, to determine the sequence of the 3 billion DNA bases in each chromosome.

GDB is the worldwide repository of human genome chromosome mapping data.

Genome Sequence DataBase, http://www.ncgr.org/gsdb/: Relational database containing nucleotide sequence data from all known organisms.
: Annotated collection of all publicly available DNA sequences.

Try It! Images on the Web

Click on particular areas of chromosomes and find genes.
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory chromosome 19 physical map, http://www-bio.llnl.gov/bbrp/genome/genome.html
Los Alamos National Laboratory chromosome 16 physical map, http://www-ls.lanl.gov/DBqueries/QueryPage.html
Cells Alive!, http://www.cellsalive.com: Images (some moving) of different types of cells.

Cytogenetics Gallery, http://www.pathology.washington.edu:80/Cytogallery/: Photos (karyotypes) of normal and abnormal chromosomes.

Bugs in the News!, http://falcon.cc.ukans.edu/~jbrown/bugs.html: Microbiology information and a nice collection of images of biological molecules.

Images of Biological Molecules, http://www.cc.ukans.edu/~micro/picts.html: 3-D structures of proteins and nucleic acids obtained from Brookhaven National Laboratory Protein Database and others.
: Animated images of PCR and Southern Blotting techniques.
: 3-D molecular structure viewer allowing the user to visualize and rotate structure data entries from Entrez. Highly technical for researchers.

Journals and Magazines

HGMIS Journals Gateways Web page, http://www.ornl.gov/hgmis/links.html Choose "Journals, Books, Periodicals.": Comprehensive list.
Nature, Nature Genetics, and Nature Biotechnology, http://www.nature.com: Abstracts of articles, full text of letters and editorials.

Science, http://www.sciencemag.org: Abstracts and some full-text articles.

Science News, http://www.sciencenews.org: Online version of weekly popular science magazine with full text of selected articles.

Science in the News

Daily news and information service and free science news e-mailer. Also contains directories of newsgroups, grant and funding resources, employment, and online journals.

Genomics Today, http://www.phrma.org/genomics/documents/today.html: A daily update on the latest news in the field. Many links. Website a joint project of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America and the American Institute of Biological Sciences.

EurekAlert!, http://www.eurekalert.org: Short summaries of major stories.

HMS Beagle, http://biomednet.com/hmsbeagle: Web magazine featuring science news, essays, book reviews, and bioweekly e-mail notification of this site's contents.

Science Daily, http://www.sciencedaily.com: Headline stories, articles, and links to news services, newspapers, magazines, broadcast sources, journals, and organizations. Also offers weekly bulletins for updates by e-mail.

ScienceNow, http://www.sciencenow.org: Daily online news service from Science magazine offers articles on major science news.

Web Search Tools

Comprehensive list of search tools, libraries, world fact books, and other useful information.

Yahoo!, http://www.yahoo.com
Biosciences Index to WWW Virtual Library, http://golgi.harvard.edu/htbin/biopages/

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