The human genome invites our attention. The Human recreation of human biology in digital space, but it will suffice for us better to understand the processes of disease Genome Project (HGP), a collaborative international project between academic institutions to read or sequence in the medium term. Why should this matter to cancer surgeons and to the the entire genetic code, was conceived and commenced in the mid-1990s. It has received a dramatic boost under the European Journal of Surgical Oncology? The human genome will never be accessible to the surgical knife, and the benefits stimulus of a competing commercial project, such that the timescale for completion of the programme has been of the HGP to cancer therapy may be many decades away. The language of molecular biology is arcane and its tools telescoped from the middle of this decade to the next year or so. Both projects will represent a staggering intellectual and techniques, despite their elegance, demand much attention for their understanding. and technical achievement in documenting and ordering the billions of adenine, cytosine, thymine and guanine (A, C, Surgeons have always been at the forefront of innovation in clinical medicine. The language of biological science and T and G) nucleotide bases in 23 chromosomes that make up the human genetic code. The human genome is perhaps the literature will be full of the HGP in the coming years. The technical jargon of molecular biology renders the specialist the ultimate information technology challenge in biology. Great as this achievement will be, sequencing the genetic literature impenetrable to the lay or casual reader. It is thus important that we have a grasp of the terms, concepts and code in itself will not be enough. There are some 80 000 genes hidden in this linear puzzle in simple, multiple and opportunities which the HGP generates if we are to influence the coming debates about resources and treatment strategies disjointed copies, each of which will need to be identified, classified and a function assigned. This process is known as with our oncological colleagues. The European Journal of Surgical Oncology aims to annotation. This is itself a massive exercise in computing power and intellectual judgement, as long lengths of DNA educate its audience about important issues in oncology which inform professional debate. We hope to publish a code are interpreted and compared against the large data bases of known genes from all species. series of articles over the next few years which will highlight important aspects of the emerging human genome story in An even greater challenge will be to study the interactions and regulations of genes and gene complexes, and their a digestible way. We trust that these will prove to be of interest to busy surgical cancer specialists, and are pleased protein products. Ultimately we will need to understand the controls and workings of our cells from embryogenesis to invite further contributions to this subject. We are living in a period of extraordinary intellectual ferment in the to old age, across the spectrum of tissues and organs, and in health and disease. This study will be a complex interplay biological sciences. We are a privileged generation to be able to witness and report matters which will have a of computer modelling and in vivo experimentation with index organisms such as bacteria, yeast, the fruit fly and profound bearing on human health, disease and society in the coming years. cultured cell lines. We could ultimately conceive of the