Dr. Watson was also the architect and first director of the government’s $3 billion human genome project, which completed the first human genome in 2003.
A copy of his genome, recorded on a pair of DVDs was presented to Dr. Watson Houston by Richard Gibbs, director of the Human Genome Sequencing Center at the Baylor College of Medicine, and by Jonathan Rothberg, founder of the company 454 Life Sciences.
Dr. Rothberg’s company makes an innovative DNA sequencing machine, the latest version of which proved capable of decoding Dr. Watson’s genome in two months at a cost of less than $1 million. The sequence was verified and analyzed by Dr. Gibbs’s center in Houston. It was Dr. Gibbs who proposed the idea of sequencing Dr. Watson’s genome.
Dr. Watson has said he will make his entire genome available for researchers to study, with the single exception of his apolipoprotein E gene, the status of which he does not wish to know because it predisposes a person toward Alzheimer’s disease.
The first two genome sequences belonging to individuals are now being made available to researchers within a few days of each other. One is Dr. Watson’s and the other belongs to J. Craig Venter, who as president of the Celera Corporation started a human genome project in competition with the government.
Nomophobia
It's the fear of being out of mobile phone contact. According to a study, nomophobia is plaguing our 24/7 life — running out of battery, credit or losing one's handset. About 53% of users surveyed are affected by not having network coverage. The survey revealed that men suffer more than women, with 48% of females and 58% of males admitting to feelings of anxiety. Many respondents said they never switched off their mobile phones.
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