Dr. Victor A. McKusick, a key architect of the Human Genome Project and a winner of the National Medal of

Science, has died. He was 86.

Officials at Johns Hopkins University, where McKusick was a professor of genetics, said he died Tuesday in Towson, Maryland — after complications from cancer.

McKusick, whose work explored the links between genetics and disease, won the top U.S. scientific prize in 2001.

Louise Brown, the first test-tube baby, was born 30 years ago this month after being conceived outside the body using in vitro fertilization (IVF). Helen Pearson asks what developments in reproductive medicine could have an equivalent impact in the next three decades.

ScienceDaily (Apr. 28, 2008) — In a collaborative effort, researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have discovered that deletions or mutations within the TFAP2A gene (Activating Enhancer-Binding Protein) result in the distinctive clefting disorder Branchio-Oculo-Facial syndrome (BOFS).

NEW YORK (AP) -- Scientists in California say they have produced embryos that are clones of two men, a potential step toward developing scientifically valuable stem cells.