As we all know, Francis Galton was - among other things - the founder of human genetics. After a long period of relative stagnation due largely to the practical difficulties of using the standard genetical approaches on people, human genetics has - quite suddenly, and somewhat to its own surprise - become the fastest growing area of genetics, if not of biology as a whole. Indeed, we now know more about the structure of human genomes and the genetics of human evolution than we do about these aspects of the biology of any other organism.
Much of this has arisen because of a technical revolution in how we study genes. The Galton Laboratory was in at the beginning of this revolution and is, we like to think, still in its front line. The Laboratory itself is the lineal descendant of the Anthropometric Laboratory set up by Galton at the International Health Exhibition of 1884 and the Eugenics Record Office and the Biometric Laboratory, each founded at University College London in 1904. Since then, it has maintained an unbroken association with UCL, and now contains within itself the UCL Department of Genetics and Biometry as well as a large group of Medical Research Council funded scientists associated with research and teaching in genetics. It has a home in Wolfson House, an inelegant but highly functional building tastefully set in a seedy back-street close to the main campus of University College.
There are in Wolfson House nearly a hundred scientists involved in research into various aspects of modern genetics. Many different research projects are under way, but nearly all of them would be recognised by Galton as being close to - or descending from - his own interests. They include: Human Biochemical Genetics: A large and flourishing group is studying the biochemistry of human inherited disease. Many single-gene disorders are being investigated. They include diseases such as tuberose sclerosis, neonatal liver disease and severe combined immunodeficiency. At present, much of the work is focused on the identification of carriers of genetic abnormalities and on pre-natal diagnosis, but the long-term hope is that gene therapy for some of these diseases may become available. In addition, the laboratory is closely involved in the human gene mapping project - the scheme to produce a complete map of the 3 000 000 000 DNA bases in the human genome. Our involvement in this has evolved from a long-term project on the study of human linkage using the statistical analysis of pedigrees. The Laboratory has been particularly concerned with the structure of the human Y chromosome, and has been involved in the recent successful search for the gene which determines maleness on that chromosome. Another active theme is the search for parallels between the mouse genome and that of humans: mouse models of human disease are becoming increasingly important, and in the past few years members of the lab have been working on transgenic mice into which human genes have been incorporated.
Cancer Genetics: One of the most startling findings of the new genetics has been the discovery that many cancers are due to gene and chromosome mutations not dissimilar to those causing inborn disease. We have groups working on chromosomal changes in cancer - notably colon cancer, which runs in families - and on mutations in the oncogenes responsible for other cancers. The Galton Laboratory also collaborates closely with the cytogenetic diagnostic service at University College Hospital, part of which is housed in Wolfson House.
Genetics and Development: There are groups working on the genetics of hearing deficiency in the mouse, on mouse coat colour, and on the inheritance of differences in taste perception in mice. In addition, Wolfson House contains a number of scientists involved in fundamental research on the nature of the biochemical changes which take place during mouse development. They use a variety of different techniques, and were instrumental in developing the new technology of using mouse chimaeras - individuals formed from the fusion of two genetically different embryos - in the study of development.
Evolutionary Genetics: Although Galton was not himself an evolutionist, he was of course the cousin of Charles Darwin, who very much was. This evolutionary theme continues today. Several people are working on ecological genetics - the interaction between the genetic structure of natural populations and the environment in which they live. Several creatures are being studied in the field and the laboratory: snails, fruit-flies, grasshoppers, butterflies - and even humans. Field research is carried out in Britain, France, Spain, the United States and South America. Individual projects include studies of the effects of thermal relations in sunshine on the fitness of animals of different genotype, the genetics of hybrid zones as an insight into the nature of species, and the evolution of secondary sexual characters by sexual selection. Much of this work has a strongly mathematical theme, following in Galton’s own interests in the interactions of statistics and biology.
As well as its research, the Galton Laboratory has a large and increasing commitment to teaching. The BSc in Genetics was founded about ten years ago, and now has a dozen graduates per year. About the same number of medical students from several London medical schools take the one year Intercalated BSc in Human Genetics as part of their medical training. In 1991 we admitted the first students to the new 3-year BSc in Human Genetics, and we hope that this will attract large numbers of applicants in the future. There are about twenty postgraduate students in the Department. The majority of our graduates go on to do further work in genetics, either at the research level or in fields such as diagnostic cytogenetics.
Another important aspect of our work is the publication of the Annals of Human Genetics (originally the Annals of Eugenics) which is one of the most important - and the oldest - of the scientific journals concerned with human genetics. The Laboratory still contains many of the relics of Galton himself - his spectacles, much of his library (including his autographed copy of The Origin of Species), the Quincunx (Galton’s ingenious machine for modelling statistical distributions) and a series of fascinating relics of its founder.
Like most University institutions in Britain, the Galton Laboratory is now in the position of being asked to do more and more teaching and research with fewer and fewer resources. In spite of our present difficulties, we remain hopeful that the Laboratory will be able to stay as close to the forefront of research in human genetics as it has throughout its 85-year history.
Dr. J. S. Jones, Head of Department
The Galton Laboratory
Department of Genetics and Biometry
University College London