SUGGESTED INTRO: MAPPING THE HUMAN GENOME IS A MAJOR MILESTONE THAT MANY COMPARE TO MAN WALKING ON THE MOON. BUT WHAT CHANGES ARE YOU LIKELY TO SEE WHEN YOU VISIT YOUR DOCTOR? A GENETICIST EXPLAINS IN THIS REPORT:

Interview: Huntington Willard, Ph.D.,
Geneticist, Case Western Reserve University

VIDEO: Open with shot of female researcher at computer with genetic scan on-screen.

Cut to pan of graphic of DNA strand.

Cut to shot of researcher's hand piping a sample vial of genetic material.

Cut to on-screen interview.

VOICEOVER: MANY SAY MAPPING THE HUMAN GENOME IS AS BIG A MILESTONE AS MAN WALKING ON THE MOON, AND THAT IT WILL EVENTUALLY CHANGE EVERY ASPECT OF MEDICINE. BUT HOW WILL IT CHANGE THE LEVEL OF MEDICAL CARE THAT YOU RECEIVE? HUNTINGTON WILLARD, A GENETICIST AT CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY, EXPLAINS.

SOT & SUGGESTED SUPER: Huntington Willard, Geneticist, Case Western Reserve University

INTERVIEW: In short term there won't be a dramatic change, just as there wasn't after we landed a man on the moon. There was a quickness to everyone's step and pride that we had done the job well, and those certainly apply to the human genome project. But this does not change medicine dramatically yet. (TRT :18)

VIDEO: Cut to female researcher reading a gene chart. Cut to CU of her hand holding the gene chart.

WILLARD SAYS, THE MAJOR RESULT OF COMPLETING THE GENOME MAP WILL BE A SHIFT TO MORE PERSONALIZED MEDICAL TREATMENTS, ESPECIALLY WITH CUSTOMIZED DRUGS.

ON-CAMERA INTERVIEW: Huntington Willard, Geneticist, Case Western Reserve University

Cut to shots of researcher filling sample tubes in genetics laboratory.

INTERVIEW: All patients with diabetes are not the same. All patients with schizophrenia are not the same. The medical community, up until this point, has had a tendency to treat not the individual but the symptoms. I think one of the dramatic effects of having the human genome project completed to this stage is going to be the impact that it has on the pharmaceutical industry and finding appropriate drugs, appropriate treatments for individual ailments. And this is going to lead to what has been called personalized medicine or individualized medicine. (TRT :32)

VIDEO: Shot of male researcher looking into microscope. Cut o female researcher looking at samples and then placing under microscope. Cut to CU of computer screen showing genetic chart. Cut to third researcher filling tubes with genetic samples.

Cut to black.

VOICEOVER: WILLARD SAYS, ADVANCES IN GENE THERAPY WILL BE INCREMENTAL, BUT FASTER THAN BEFORE BECAUSE WE NOW HAVE A BLUEPRINT TO GO BY, AND THAT MEANS MEDICAL DIAGNOSIS AND THERAPIES WILL MORE THAN EVER TAKE PLACE ON THE GENETIC LEVEL.

THIS IS DAVE NAROSNY REPORTING FROM CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY, CLEVELAND.