The Human Genome Organisation (HUGO) is a non-profit organization founded in 1988. HUGO represents an international coordinating scientific body in response to initiatives such as the
Human Genome Project
The Human Genome Project (HGP) was an international scientific research project with the goal of determining the base pairs that make up human DNA, and of identifying, mapping and sequencing all of the genes of the human genome from both a ...
. HUGO has four active committees, including the
HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee
The HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC) is a committee of the Human Genome Organisation (HUGO) that sets the standards for human gene nomenclature. The HGNC approves a ''unique'' and ''meaningful'' name for every known human gene, based on a ...
(HGNC), and the HUGO Committee on Ethics, Law and Society (CELS).
History
HUGO was established at the first meeting on genome mapping and sequencing at Cold Spring Harbor in 1988. The idea of starting the organization stemmed from South African biologist
Sydney Brenner
Sydney Brenner (13 January 1927 – 5 April 2019) was a South African biologist. In 2002, he shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with H. Robert Horvitz and Sir John E. Sulston. Brenner made significant contributions to work ...
,
who is best known for his significant contributions to work on the genetic code and other areas of molecular biology, as well as winning the 2002
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single prize, but five separate prizes that, accord ...
.
A Founding Council was elected at the meeting with a total of 42 scientists from 17 different countries, with
Victor A. McKusick
Victor Almon McKusick (October 21, 1921 – July 22, 2008) was an American internist and medical geneticist, and Professor of Medicine at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore. He was a proponent of the mapping of the human genome due to its ...
serving as founding President.
In 2016, HUGO was located at the EWHA Womans University in Seoul, South Korea.
In 2020, the HUGO headquarters moved to Farmington, Connecticut, USA.
HUGO has convened a Human Genome Meeting (HGM) every year since 1996.
In partnership with geneticist
Yuan-Tsong Chen
Yuan-Tsong Chen (YT Chen; ) is a Taiwanese physician scientist, notable for his work on human genetic disorders. He is the director emeritus (2001–2010) and distinguished research fellow (2001–present) of the Institute of Biomedical Sciences, ...
and Alice Der-Shan Chen, founders of the Chen Foundation, HUGO presents the Chen Award to those with research accomplishments in human genetics and genomics in Asia Pacific.
In 2020, HUGO merged with the Human Genomic Variation Society (HGVS) and Human Variome Project (HVP).
Presidents
Charles Lee (South Korea, USA) – 2017 – Present
Stylianos Antonarakis (Switzerland) – 2012 to 2017
Edison Liu (Singapore) – 2007 to 2012
Leena Peltonen (Finland) – 2005 to 2007
Yoshiyuki Sakaki (Japan) – 2002 to 2005
Lap‐Chee Tsui (Canada) – 2000 to 2002
Gert‐Jan van Ommen (Netherlands) – 1998 to 1999
Grant Sutherland (Australia) -1996 to 1997
Thomas Caskey (USA) – 1993 to 1995
Walter Bodmer (UK) – 1991 to 1993
Victor McKusick (USA), Founding President – 1988 to 1991
HUGO Committee on Ethics, Law and Society
HUGO's Committee on Ethics, Law and Society (CELS) is an interdisciplinary academic working group that is a uniquely positioned to analyse bioethical matters in genomics at a conceptual level and with an international perspective. To this end, CELS mission is to explore and inform professional discourse on the ethical aspects of genetics and genomics, normally though scholarly engagement, thought-provoking papers, and policy guiding statements.
The first meeting of the HUGO Ethics Committee took place in Amsterdam in October 1992, chaired by Nancy Wexler (Columbia University). In 2010, under the leadership of then HUGO president Edison Liu (The Jackson Laboratory) and a new chair Ruth Chadwick (Cardiff University), the committee became the HUGO Committee on Ethics, Law and Society (CELS). Benjamin Capps was nominated to be the present chair at the HUGO Human Genome Meeting, held in Barcelona in 2017.
Chairs
2017–present: Benjamin Capps (UK, Canada)
2010-2017: Ruth Chadwick (UK)
1996-2008: Bartha Knoppers (Canada)
1992-1996: Nancy Wexler (USA)
Statements
The Human Genome Organisation (HUGO) and the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic (Human Genomics 15:12), 2021
Statement on Bioinformatics and Capturing the Benefits of Genome Sequencing for Society, 2019
Statement on Supreme Court: Genes are not patentable, June 2013
Statement on Stem Cells, November 2004
Statement on the scope of gene patents, research exemption, and licensing of patented gene sequences for diagnostics, 2003
Statement on Human Genomic Databases, December 2002
Statement in Gene Therapy Research, April 2001
Statement on Benefit Sharing, April 2000
Statement on Cloning, March 1999
Statement on DNA Sampling: Control and Access, February 1998
Statement on the Principled Conduct of Genetics Research, December 1995
See also
*
HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee
The HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC) is a committee of the Human Genome Organisation (HUGO) that sets the standards for human gene nomenclature. The HGNC approves a ''unique'' and ''meaningful'' name for every known human gene, based on a ...
*
Victor A. McKusick
Victor Almon McKusick (October 21, 1921 – July 22, 2008) was an American internist and medical geneticist, and Professor of Medicine at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore. He was a proponent of the mapping of the human genome due to its ...
*
Ira Carmen
Ira Harris Carmen (born December 3, 1934) graduated from the University of Michigan and is an American Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he taught from 1968 to 2009.
Carmen is a co-fo ...
*
List of genetics research organizations
This is a list of organizations involved in genetics research.
Africa
Kenya
*International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Nairobi
Namibia
*The Life Technologies Conservation Genetics Laboratory (Cheetah Conservation Fund), Otjiwarongo
Asi ...
*
International Mammalian Genome Society
The International Mammalian Genome Society (IMGS) is a professional scientific organization that promotes and coordinates the genetic and genomic study of mammals. It has a scientific journal, ''Mammalian Genome'', and organizes an annual interna ...
References
External links
HUGO homepageHGNC homepageCELS homepage
{{Authority control
Genomics organizations
International medical and health organizations
International organisations based in Switzerland