The human genome research is aimed for greatly contributing to the human welfare through developing novel methods on diagnosis, prevention, and care of human diseases. Such a research is also important as an infrastructure indispensable for the development of basic biology. Thus, Human Genome Center was founded on 1991 in the campus of the Institute of Medical Science, the University of Tokyo, as a national center for the human genome project, which should be crucial for the future progress of both medicine and biology. The center was first started from a single laboratory (Lab. of Genome Database) on 1991 and seven laboratories are joined subsequently (Lab. of Structure Genomics on 1992, Lab. of DNA Information Analysis on 1993, Lab. of Molecular Medicine, Lab. of Genome Technology on 1996, Lab. of Sequence Analysis, Lab. of Functional Genomics, Lab. of Functional Analysis in silico, and Lab. of Biostatistics). A new building of the center, which is about 4,400 m² in area, was also completed on March 1997. On August 2003, the new general research building was completed.

At each laboratory, not only leading-edge researches are conducted in each field of the international genome study but also the genome research activities in Japan are supported. For example, members of Laboratories of Structure Genomics, Molecular Medicine, and Genome Technology have provided various materials to other researchers, have held training courses on genome technology, and have taught experimental techniques to young visiting scientists in Japan. Members of Laboratories of Genome Database, DNA Information Analysis, Sequence Analysis, Functional Genomics and Functional Analysis in silico have also contributed in maintaining and constructing internationally-coordinated databases, in distributing genome information to the genome science community, and in holding training courses on its usage. Therefore, our center not only plays a leading role in the progress of human genome project in Japan but also functions as a corresponding door for the international activities in database construction, mapping, and sequencing of the human genome. We will continue our efforts in maintaining the leading research activity, in supporting a number of genome scientists, and in releasing the fruits of our achievements to the world.

Yusuke Nakamura, M.D. and PhD