---
title: "UK Researchers Just Finished Sequencing 100,000 Human Genomes"
description: "The UK's 100,000 Genomes Project has met its first goal. Next, it plans to sequence 1 million genomes in just five years."
date: "2018-12-07"
modified: "2018-12-07"
authors:
  - name: "Kristin Houser"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/kristin"
url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/100000-genomes-project-success"
categories:
  - "Health & Medicine"
tags:
  - "100000 genomes project"
  - "genome"
  - "nhs"
---

# UK Researchers Just Finished Sequencing 100,000 Human Genomes

![The UK's 100,000 Genomes Project has met its first goal. Next, it plans to sequence 1 million genomes in just five years.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/100000-genomes-project-success.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Adobe Stock\</em\>*

## Challenge Accepted

There's no time to waste when you're in the business of saving lives.

In 2012, the U.K.'s then-Prime Minister David Cameron launched the [100,000 Genomes Project](<https://www.genomicsengland.co.uk/>), an initiative with a challenging but straightforward goal: sequence 100,000 human genomes.

On Wednesday, the project announced it had [met that goal](<https://www.bbc.com/news/health-46456984>) — and it's already looking ahead to an even more ambitious one.

## 100,000 Down

Your [genome](<https://www.genomicsengland.co.uk/understanding-genomics/genome-sequencing/>) is your unique DNA sequence. It's 3 billion letters long and resides in almost every cell in your body. Today, cutting-edge machines can write out this entire list of letters — that is, sequence your genome — in about 24 hours from one tablespoon of your blood.

The people behind the 100,000 Genomes Project didn't sequence a random assortment of genomes. They sequenced the genomes of 85,000 National Health Service patients — each either with a rare disease or related to someone with a rare disease — as well as the genomes of cells taken directly from tumors, for a total of 100,000 genomes.

## A Million to Go

The hope was that this massive sequencing project would uncover better ways to treat and diagnose people with rare inherited diseases and cancers — and so far, that seems to be the case.

Twenty-five percent of the people with rare diseases who participated in the 100,000 Genomes Project [received a diagnosis](<https://futurism.com/100000-genomes-project-leads-to-first-rare-disease-diagnoses>) for their condition for the very first time. Prior to having their genomes sequenced, these people didn't know exactly what was causing their symptoms, and now that they do, there's a better chance they can receive effective treatments.

While reaching the 100,000 milestone is cause for celebration, the U.K. government doesn't plan to stop there. In October 2018, the nation [announced](<https://www.genomicsengland.co.uk/matt-hancock-announces-5-million-genomes-within-five-years/>) its new goal: sequencing *1 million* genomes over the next five years.

**READ MORE:** [Faster Diagnosis From 'Transformational' Gene Project](<https://www.bbc.com/news/health-46456984>) \[*BBC*\]

***More on the 100,000 Genomes Project: [100,000 Genomes Project Leads to First Rare Disease Diagnoses](<https://futurism.com/100000-genomes-project-leads-to-first-rare-disease-diagnoses>)***

### Author social links  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinjhouser>)