In April 2003 the directors of the Human Genome Project (HGP), an international scientific research project coordinated by the United States Department of Energy and the National Institutes of Health National Human Genome Research Institute, announced that the first draft of the map of the human genome had been completed [1]. It was anticipated that mapping the complete set of DNA would revolutionize health care and lay the groundwork for the development of clinical markers with predictive capabilities and, thereby, shift the disease-treatment trajectory and lead to preventive interventions, tailored treatments, and averted deaths (Figure 1). Likewise, it was anticipated that the map would lead to a better understanding of the causes of cardiac disease, cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, mental disorders, and other common and rare diseases; the development of diagnostic tests to detect errant genes; the development of new classes of medicines based on gene sequence and protein structure function; and the development of therapies which use genes in treating genetic and acquired diseases [2, 3].
