Trying to understand the Human Genome Project may bring back feelings of cramming for your dreaded high school science class. But, as technical and scientific as the name sounds, the HGP is a fascinating study that could be used as a great resource for both you and your family sometime in the future.

The actual definition, according to the National Human Genome Research Institute, states that this is an “international, collaborative research program formed to complete the mapping and understand of all the genes of human beings.” These genes all put together are known as our “genome.”

During this project, one of the goals was to decipher the human genome in three ways. This included determining the order of all the bases in our genome’s DNA. Then from that information, they were able to form maps that show the locations of genes for major sections of all our chromosomes and producing “linkage maps.” These show which inherited traits can be traced through generations.

This project has revealed that there are 25,000 human genes. The end result of the HGP is to give the world a detailed information filled resource about the structure, organization and function of the complete set of human genes. This information can be thought of as the basic set of instructions for the development and function of a human being.