New Exhibit Highlights Genetic Advances

Baylor College of Medicine’s Human Genome Sequencing Center and the Houston Museum of Natural Science have joined forces to bring Houston a new hands-on genetics exhibit.

The April 23 opening of “The Living Genome: Reading the Book of Life,” coincided with the Washington, D.C. announcement of the completion of the Human Genome Project.

The exhibit focuses on human health, biotechnology, human diversity and natural history in light of recent genetics and genomics advances. It fills the museum’s 3,000 square-foot circular Isaac Arnold Hall gallery and includes interactive stations, films, visitor polling stations, graphics and artifacts designed to enhance the visitor’s understanding of the human genome, chromosomes and genes, and how genes regulate the development of an organism.

The exhibit highlights:

• the role of genetics in human health and illness;
  
• biotechnology applications ranging from forensic DNA analysis to gene therapy, stem-cell research and cloning;
  
• various uses of genetics tests and ethical genetic testing issues;
  
• application of genetics to agriculture and the effects of farming on the traits of plants and animals;
  
• the importance of genetically modified organisms in biomedical research;
  
• the human history of DNA; and
  
• the international human genome project, which includes the project’s goals and accomplishments and the role Baylor College of Medicine’s Human Genome Sequencing Center has played in the project’s success.
  

“The Living Genome: Reading the Book of Life” runs through Dec. 31 and is included in the regular museum admission ticket price, which is free to members, $6 for adults, and $3.50 for children 3 to 11 and seniors 62 and above. For more information call (713) 639-4629 visit http://www.hmns.org.

For information in Spanish, call (713) 639-4603. Located in Hermann Park across from Miller Outdoor Theater, the Houston Museum of Natural Science is open Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

– John Tyler

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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