The startup legacy of the Human Genome Project

Today marks 20 years since the sequencing of the human genome was declared complete by the Human Genome Project. The world’s largest ever collaborative biological project.

It took 13 years, thousands of scientists, 20 research institutes on three continents, and cost $2.7B in public funding (to be fair that’s less than $1 per base pair).

Due to their work, it can now be done in one hour, for $200.

Genome Engineering startups built on the open-access breakthrough are now collectively worth over $270B.

Alumni of some of the closest affiliated universities to the project, including Stanford, MIT, Cambridge, University of Washington (Seattle), Washington University (Houston), Baylor College of Medicine St Louis, have gone on to found over 240 biotech startups since 2003, worth over $50B.

Here are a few of the ones to watch right now according to Dealroom Signal.

This week The Wellcome Sanger Institute, which played a central role in the Human Genome Project, also announced that it had identified 60 new genetic disorders after a 10 year gene study.

Investment in scientific discovery pays for itself. And the 20 year old work of mapping the human genome will be changing lives for generations.

Explore 1,168 genetic engineering startups on Dealroom.