Sequencing proposal

Contains files regarding Waterston's "indecent proposal", organisation of the Meglomaniac Genome Project and Sulston's funding application to the Wellcome Trust and MRC.

September 1994-April 1996

5 files

In 1994 Robert (Bob) Waterston sent John Sulston an email headed "an indecent proposal" which set out a strategy for accelerating sequencing production in order to complete the human genome sequence in a much shorter timescale. The resulting data would have a slightly lower, but still very high level of accuracy and would be released first as a rough draft and then as the final version. The work would be split three ways between Waterston's laboratory, the Sanger Centre and other partner laboratories. The proposal was achievable in part due to new assembly software developed by Phil Green called PHRAP. The proposal was dubbed the Meglomaniac Genome Project. It led Sulston to produce a Programme of Work for the Sanger Centre 1996-2002, which included sequencing a third of the human genome, and to submit a funding application to the Wellcome Trust and Medical Research Council (MRC) for seven-year funding to produce the finished human genome sequence in collaboration with others. In 1995 Sulston was awarded enough funding for the Sanger Centre to sequence one sixth of the genome, but gained additional funding from the Wellcome Trust in 1998 to ultimately complete a third of the genome sequence.