The main medical/scientific research project of the last two decades is the human genome project and its suggested clinical applications. The project can be successfully formulated as a quest to cure diseases, especially cancer, and even defy mortality. The protagonist of this quest is the leader of the project, who is now almost desperately trying to 'translate' genome science into public health practice (screening) and medical practice, often referred to as 'tailor-made medicine', 'personalised medicine'. In the US's dysfunctional and patchy healthcare system, adding another layer of extremely expensive and (so far) marginally effective screening procedures and genetic cancer treatments is a hard sell. Nevertheless, framing the human genome project as a quest for extra life can make it seem perfectly normal, even natural, and may help win public opinion to support it. The second, parallel quest is a political quest for public health to find a system that provides Americans with universal access to healthcare. The ultimate success of this quest will not depend on any scientific or medical breakthrough, not even a genetic one, but on political will.
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