A new exhibit, "Genome: The Secret of How Life Works", opened at the George Bush Presidential Library Saturday.

In 1989, when President George H.W. Bush signed into law the appropriations for The Human Genome Project, who could have foreseen how the science of imagination would become the science of the possible? Within our grasp is the day when diseases like cancer are cured, when disorders like sickle cell anemia are corrected in the womb, and when guilt and innocence in criminal investigations are more certain.

The project of mapping the human genome was completed in 2003 during President George W. Bush's administration. It accomplished its mission of identifying the more than 20,000 genes in human DNA and determining the complete sequence of the 3 billion DNA subunits (basis of the human genome). Parallel studies helped develop technology and interpret human gene function.

"Genome: The Secret of How Life Works," opens Aug. 25, 2012 at the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum, sponsored by Texas A&M AgriLife Research and in cooperation with the Texas A&M University Whole Systems Genomics Initiative, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and the Department of Animal Science, and media partner KBTX Media.

Designed for all ages, the exhibit explores the nature and impact of our genes through visually-rich environments, interactives, artifacts and multi-media. The exhibit examines the history of discovery from Gregor Mendel's rules of inheritance in the 19th century to the famous Watson and Crick DNA double helix. The implications of gene therapy for the future of medical science and health care are vast and unlimited.

In conjunction with the "Genome" exhibit, rotating ancillary exhibits will display the achievements of the newly established Whole Systems Genomics Initiative at Texas A&M University. These exhibits will highlight past achievements such as the Copy Cat cloning project, and advancements in agriculture worthy of a Nobel Peace Prize.