Author:
García-Sancho Miguel,Lowe James
Abstract
AbstractIn this chapter, we focus on an institution that represents the exclusivity of the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium (IHGSC) while also contributing to the ‘funnelling effect’ that shaped it: the Sanger Institute. After situating its origins in the sequencing of the worm Caenorhabditis elegans, we portray the Sanger Institute as a driver in the formation of the IHGSC and as an advocate for the concentration of its membership into a few high-throughput sequencing centres. The intensification of this genome centre model, alongside competition with the corporate sequencing effort led by Celera Genomics, shaped the formation of the IHGSC. As a result, the large-scale production of sequence data became an increasingly differentiated and exclusive practice undertaken by its members. Conversely, the smaller laboratories that used this data in their own genetics research were sidelined from the determination of the human reference sequence.
Publisher
Springer International Publishing
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