Collins spoke of the need for legislation to regulate how genetic information can be used. He also stressed that humans are much more than the sum of their genes.

"In all of this excitement about genetics, will we forget that we are much more than is written in our DNA?" he asked. "We shall not learn about the human spirit or what love is by studying the DNA molecule. Scientists sometimes run the risk of feeding into a very mechanical view of biology."

In a question and answer session after the hour-long talk, one audience member asked for Collins' thoughts on genetic research in the private sector, specifically mentioning Celera Genomics, a private company that has been engaged in a much-publicized competition with Collins' project to sequence and interpret the genome.

"Celera has obviously been a very important force to reckon with in the past few years," Collins said. He stressed that the perceived rivalry was not as intense as is has been portrayed.

"This wasn't especially rancorous and it wasn't a race," he said.

According to Matthew W. Fei, a member of the Caucus' four-member steering committee and a second year medical student at HMS, the program is meant to bring people from various Harvard graduate schools to talk about the implications of sequencing the human genome.

"The whole point is to get students from all disciplines to talk to each other," he said.

Fei said he was especially happy that Collins had accepted his group's invitation to speak.