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The History of HUGO

The Human Genome Organisation

History, Purposes and Membership - Dr. Victor A. McKusick, 1989, Genomics

The Human Genome Organisation (HUGO) was conceived in later April 1988, at the first meeting on genome mapping and sequencing at Cold Spring Harbor. For some time, as the genome initiatives got under way in individual nations, the need for an international coordinating scientific body has been under discussion. The idea of HUGO was particularly Sydney Brenner's, He also suggested the name of the organisation and its rather felicitous acronym.

At a rump session called to discuss the proposal at Cold Spring Harbor on April 30, 1988, Victor McKusick (Baltimore) was asked to serve as founding president. A Founding Council was assembled from among those at the Cold Spring Harbor meeting, supplemented by others, to a total of 42 scientists from 17 countries. In early September 1988, 31 of these scientists met in Montreux, Switzerland, at a hotel within sight of the historic Chateau de Chillion. The members of the Founding Council are indicated by an asterisk in the list of HUGO members at the end. The officers elected at Montreux were as follows: Victor A. McKusick, President; Walter Bodmer, Jean Dausset, and Kenichi Matsubara, Vice Presidents; John Tooze, Secretary; Walter Gilbert, Treasurer (resigned February 15, 1989); and Charles Cantor, Malcolm Ferguson-Smith, Leroy Hood, Lennart Philipson, and Frank Ruddle, Eletced Members to Executive Committee.

HUGO was incorporated in Geneva, Switzerland. As stated in its Articles of Association, "membership of HUGO shall be open to all persons concerned with the human genome or other scientific subjects related to it". It was decided in Montreux to follow an academy model, i.e. to have a limited and elected membership. In elections conducted by mail during the 5 months after Montreux, 178 additional members of HUGO were chosen, bringing the total to 220. The members were drawn from 23 countries; namely Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, East Germany, Finland, France, Greece, Israel, Iceland, Italy, Japan, Norway, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, UK, USA, USSR and West Germany.

In the words of Norton Zinder, a member of the Founding Council, HUGO is a "U.N. for the human genome". Its purposes were as follows:

to assist with the coordination of research on the human genome and in particular to foster collaboration between scientists with a view to avoiding unnecessary competition or duplication of effort, and to coordinate this research with parallel studies in model organisms;
to coordinate and to facilitate the exchange data and biomaterials relevant to human genome research and through a training program, encourage the spreading of related technologies;
to encourage public debate and provide information and advice on the scientific, ethical, social, legal, and commercial implications of human genome projects.

The coordinating functions of HUGO have three dimensions: international, interdisciplinary, and interspecies. The coordination among nations has its counterparts in the coordination desirable among scientists working on genetic mapping and those working on physical mapping and sequencing and among scientists working on the genomes of various model organisms. Thus far, standing committees on physical mapping, databases, and the mouse genome have been set up. By mutual agreement of the executive committees of HUGO and the Human Gene Mapping Workshops (HGMW) is to become a component of HUGO.

For the conduct of business of HUGO, three regional offices are being established. The Headquarters office is located in Farmington, Connecticut; the European office in London, UK.

*Genomics 5, 385-387 (1989), reproduced by permission of the author.

HUGO Membership (as of early 1989)
Those in bold and marked with a * are members of the founding council.

Bruce M. Alberts, USA	Walter Gehring, Switzerland	David Patterson, USA	Stylianos E. Antonarakis, Switzerland
Richard Gelinas, USA	Mark L. Pearson, USA	Norman Arnheim, USA	Georgy P. Georgiev, USSR
*Peter L. Pearson, The Netherlands**	Michael Ashburner, UK	Raymond F. Gesteland, USA	*Ulf Pettersson, Sweden**
Philip Avner, France	*Walter Gilbert, USA**	*Lennart Philipson, West Germany**	Richard Axel, USA
Walter Goad, USA	Richard Roberts, USA	Francisci J. Ayala, USA	Joseph L. Goldstein, USA
*Elizabeth B. Robson, UK**	David Baltimore, USA	Peter N. Goodfellow, UK	Thomas H. Roderick, USA
Bart G. Barrell, UK	Yoram Groner, Israel	Giovanni Romeo, Italy	Alexander A. Bayev, USSR
Francois Gros, France	Hans-Hilger Ropers, The Netherlands	Arthur L. Beaudet, USA	Frank Groveld, UK
Leon E. Rosenburg, USA	Paul Berg, USA	*Karl-Heinz Grzeschik, West Germany**	Janet D. Rowley, USA
Kare Berg, Norway	James F. Guselle, USA	*Frank H. Ruddle, USA**	Georgio Bernadi, France
John L. Hamerton, Canada	Yoshiyuki Sakaki, Japan	Adrian Bird, Austria	Nicholas Hastie, UK
Joseph Sambrook, USA	Frecerick R. Blattner, USA	Michael Hayden, Canada	Federick Sanger, UK (Declined)
*Walter Bodmer, UK**	*Bernard Hirt, Switzerland**	David Schlessinger, USA	Lars Bolund, Denmark
*Tasuku Honjo, Japan**	Charles R. Scriver, Canada	*Piet Boorst, The Netherlands**	*Leroy E. Hood, USA**
Peter Seeburg, West Germany	Dirk Bootsma, The Netherlands	David E. Housman, USA	Susan W. Serjeantson, Australia
David Botstein, USA	Peter Humphries, Ireland	*Nobuyoshi Shimizu, Japan**	*Sydney Brenner, UK**
Michael Hunkapiller, USA	*Thomas B. Shows, USA**	Roy J. Britten, USA	Yoji Ikawa, Japan
Louis Siminovitch, Canada	Michael S. Brown, USA	*Francois Jacob, France**	Maxine F. Singer, USA
William R.A. Brown, UK	Alec J. Jeffreys, UK	Marcello Siniscalco, USA	W. Ted Brown, USA
*Nancy A. Jenkins, USA**	Robert L. Sinsheimer, USA	George Brownlee, UK	Trefor Jenkins, South Africa
Mark H. Skolnick, USA	Gail A.P. Bruns, USA	Bertrand Jordan, France	Cassandra Smith, USA
*George F. Cahill, Jr., USA**	*ZFotis C. Kafatos, Greece**	Cedric A.B. Smith, UK	Graham Cameron, West Germany
Y.W. Kan, USA	Oliver Smithies, USA	Howard M. Cann, France	Minoru Kanehisa, Japan
Ellen SOlomon, UK	*Charles R. Cantor, USA**	Haig H. Kazazian, Jr., USA	*Edwin M. Southern, UK**
Mario Capecchi, USA	Kenneth R. Kidd, USA	Michel Steinmetz, Switzerland	C. Thomas Caskey*, USA
Lev L. Kisselev, USSA	John Silston, UK	Bruce Cattanach, UK	*George Klein, Sweden**
*Grant R. Sutherland, Australia**	Luca Cavalli-Sforza, USA	Yuji Kohara, UK	Eugene D. Sverdlov, USSR
*Webster K. Cavenee, Canada**	Raju S. Kucherlapati, USA	Glenys Thomson, USA	Howard Cedar, Israel
Louis M. Kunkel, USA	Shirley Tilghman, USA	*Pierre Chambon, France**	Peter A. Lalley, USA
Glauco Tocchine-Valentine*, Italy	Verne M. Chapman, USA	Jean-Marc Lalouel, USA	Susumu Tonegawa, USA
George Church, USA	Eric Lander, USA	*John Tooze, West Germany**	Daniel Cohen, France
Mark Lathrop, France	Lap-Chee Tsui, Canada	*Francis S. Collins, USA**	David H. Ledbetter, USA
Christoper Tyler-Smith, UK	John Collins, West Germany	Philip Leder, USA	Nguyen Van Cong, France
P. Michael Conneally, USA	Hans Lehrach, UK	Herman van den Berghe, Belgium	Howard J. Cooke, UK
Leonard S. Lerman, USA	Alex van der Eb, The Netherlands	Andrew Coulson, UK	Peter Little, UK
Marvin van Dilla, USA	Charles Coutelle, East Germany	*Mary Lyon, UK**	Gert Jan van Ommen, The Netherlands
David R. Cox, USA	Jacob V. Maizel, USA	Akiyoshi Wada, Japan	Diane W. Cox, Canada
Jean-Louis Mandel, France	Douglas C. Wallace, USA	Ian Craig, UK	Tom Maniatis, USA
Dorothy Warburtin, USA	*Jean Dausset, France**	*Kenichi Matsubara, Japan**	John J. Wasmuth, USA
Kay E. Davies, UK	Allan M. Maxam, USA	*James D. Watson, USA**	Ronald W. Davies, USA
Phyllis J. McAlpine, Canada	*David Weatherall, UK**	Muriel Davisson, USA	*Victor A. McKusick, USA**
Robert A. Weinberg, USA	Larry L. Deaven, USA	P. Meera Kahn, The Netherlands	Jean Weissenbach, France
Albert de la Chapelle, Finland	O.J. Miller, USA	Sherman M. Weissman, USA	Helen Donis-Keller, USA
*Andrei D. Mirzabekov, USSR**	Charles Weissmann, Switzerland	Ford Doolittle, USA	Jan Mohr, Denmark
Raymond L. Whoite, USA	*Renato Dulbecco, USA**	Newton Morton, UK	Michael Wigler, USA
John H. Edwards, UK	Robert Moyzis, USA	Huntington F. Willard, Canada	Argiris Efstratiadis, USA
Daniel Nathans, USA	Robert T. Williamson, UK	H. John Evans, UK	Susumu Nishimura, Japan
Allan C. Wilson, USA	Marc Fellous, France	S. Numan, Japan	Ernst L. Winnacker, West Germany
*Malcolm A. Ferguson-Smith, UK**	Robert L. Nussbaum, USA	Savios L.C. Woo, USA	Walter Fiers, Belgium
Stephen J. O'Brien, USA	*Ronald G. Worton, Canada**	Uta Francke, USA	Michio Oishi, Japan
Mitsuaki Yoshida, Japan	*Jean Frezal, France**	Maynard Olson, USA	Hans G. Zachau, West Germany
Theodore Friedmann, USA	Stuart H. Orkin, USA	*Norton D. Zinder, USA**	Anna-Marie Frischauf, UK
Jurg Ott, USA	*Harald zur Hausen, West Germany**	Antonio Garcia-Bellido, Spain	David C. Page, USA
Tobias Gedde-Dahl, Jr., Norway	Mary Lou Pardue, USA