基因组中的信息提供了在地球上生产每种生物的指令集。尽管我们对基因组中许多单个基因的基本生化功能有了越来越多的了解，但了解了读取此编码信息以协调产生令人难以置信的多种细胞类型和器官功能的复杂过程，以及不同物种如何惊人地使用尽管如此，相似的基因集却产生了具有各种不同生存和繁殖策略的奇异多样的生物形态，这包括了所有科学领域中最深层的问题。此外，我们认识到DNA序列的遗传或获得变异以及表观遗传状态的变化实际上是造成困扰我们物种的每一种疾病的原因。遗传学系的成员利用模型生物的遗传学和基因组学（酵母，水果飞行，蠕虫，
The information in genomes provides the instruction set for producing each living organism on the planet. While we have a growing understanding of the basic biochemical functions of many of the individual genes in genomes, understanding the complex processes by which this encoded information is read out to orchestrate production of incredibly diverse cell types and organ functions, and how different species use strikingly similar gene sets to nonetheless produce fantastically diverse organismal morphologies with distinct survival and reproductive strategies, comprise many of the deepest questions in all of science. Moreover, we recognize that inherited or acquired variation in DNA sequence and changes in epigenetic states contribute to the causation of virtually every disease that afflicts our species. Spectacular advances in genetic and genomic analysis now provide the tools to answer these fundamental questions.