June 21, 2010 | Louis

A project to map the genes of 10,000 people in the UK was launched today at the Science Museum.

Scientists hope this massive study will help identify links between people’s genes and conditions such as autism, schizophrenia and obesity.

So who gets to have their genome mapped? Recruits fall into two camps. Doctors will recruit 4000 people with diseases we suspect might have a genetic cause. The remaining 6000 will be people already signed up to lifelong health monitoring.

The announcement of the project, which is funded by the Wellcome Trust, coincides with the tenth anniversary of the completion of the human genome. It also marks the opening of the Museum’s fabulous new Who am I? gallery.