WASHINGTON, March 28 (UPI) -- U.S. federal officials plan to compile a complete catalog of the genetic abnormalities of cancer to map mutations that lead to cancer or sustain it.
The proposed Human Cancer Genome Project, estimated to cost $1.35 billion over nine years, would seek to determine the DNA sequence of thousands of tumor samples.
"Knowing the defects of the cancer cell points you to the Achilles' heel of tumors," said Dr. Eric S. Lander, director of the Broad Institute, a genetic research center in Cambridge, Mass.
However, the funding sources are uncertain and some scientists have said they are concerned that a big science project could take money away from smaller ones run by individual scientists, the New York Times reported Monday.
