The world's leading teams researching into the human genome have been granted the Award. The teams are from The Sanger Centre in the United Kingdom, directed by John Sulston, from the National Human Genome Research Institute, under the leadership of Francis Collins, from Celera Genomics (U.S.A.) led by Craig Venter and Hamilton Smith and from Genoscope in France, under the directorship of Jean Weissenbach.

The complete mapping of the Genome is one of the most ambitious projects in the history of Science. Its conclusion will usher in a new era in the treatment of illnesses. Spectacular breakthroughs in the complete molecular and physiological analysis of genes and their interactions will bring genetic predisposition to suffering illnesses to light, thereby leading to better prevention policies to combat them.

Francis Collins received his doctorate in Chemistry from Yale University, and graduated as a doctor at the University of North Carolina. He has spent most of his career carrying out research at national public health institutions in the U.S.A., where he has lead the Human Genome Project, which 18 different countries are involved in, since 1999. He has identified the gene responsible for multiple endocrine neoplasia, and has carried out extensive searches amongst the people of Finland for the gene that is a risk factor for diabetes. He has promoted new forms of cloning to study the genes involved in cystic fibrosis, neurofibromatosis and Huntington's Disease.

Francis Collins has accepted the Prince of Asturias Award on behalf of the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium, which has released the sequence of the human genome freely and without restriction, for the benefit of all humankind.