ABSTRACT
In 1990 an international cast of scientists set out on the mission to identify the entire set of human genes and to sequence all of the nucleotide bases found in deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). This long and arduous task of mapping the human genome was known as the Human Genome Project (HGP). The promise that the HGP held for science and medicine was profound. Once the HGP was completed, researchers would be provided with a large amount of information that could be used to examine the genetic underpinnings to a range of phenotypes including mental illnesses, terminal diseases, different types of psychopathology, and antisocial behavior, among others. Thirteen years after its inception, the HGP was completed and the end result was one of the most significant accomplishments in the history of scientific research: the human genome-and its three billion nucleotide base pairs-was successfully mapped.
