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		    This site contains information derived from
		    the ENCODE project at NHGRI.  Additional 
		    background information
		    on the ENCODE project can be found on the 
		    NHGRI 
		    website. There is also an Ensembl version of the 
		    ENCODE resource page available.
		     
		    In April 2003, the sequence of the human genome was 
		    completed, but much remains to be done. To maximize the 
		    information contained in the sequence, the identity and 
		    precise location of all of the functional elements in the 
		    genome will have to be determined. These include promoters
	  	    and other transcriptional regulatory sequences, and
		    determinants of chromosome structure and function such as 
		    origins of replication. This project is assembling a 
		    comprehensive encyclopedia of all of these features in a 
		    selected 1% of the genome to better understand human 
		    biology, to predict potential disease risks, and to 
		    stimulate the development of new therapies to prevent and 
		    treat disease.
		     
		    The NHGRI has created a highly interactive public 
		    research consortium to carry out a pilot project for 
		    testing and comparing existing and new methods to identify
		    functional sequences in DNA. The aim is to examine a 
		    diverse set of techniques, technologies and strategies to 
		    identify all the functional elements in defined regions of
		    human genomic sequence, to identify gaps in our ability to
		    annotate genomic sequence, and to consider the suitability
		    of such methods to be scaled up for an effort to analyze 
		    the entire human genome.
		     
		    There are several roles for the UCSC Genome Bioinformatics
		    group in this work.  We manage the official repository of 
		    the sequence-related data for the consortium and support 
		    the coordination of data submission, storage, retrieval, 
		    and visualization.  We also have a special interest in 
		    comparative genomics, and are providing additional 
		    resources for the ENCODE groups working in this area.
		     
		    We'd like to thank NHGRI for their support of this 
		    project, and to the various contributors of annotations 
		    and analyses.  The team at UCSC that develops and 
		    maintains this ENCODE site is made up of 
		    Daryl Thomas, 
		    Kate Rosenbloom, 
		    Jim Kent, 
		    and the UCSC Genome Bioinformatics 
		    staff.
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