BIG was officially founded by Yang Huanming, Wang Jian, Yu Jun and others scientists on November 28, 2003,[1] when BGI (formerly the Beijing Genomics Institute, founded in 1999 to participate in the International Human Genome Project on behalf of China) became part of China Academy of Sciences.
In 2007, Beijing Genomics Institute (BGI) and BIG split, with Yang Huanming and Wang Jian moving BGI out of the CAS system and taking it to Shenzhen, and Yu Jun maintaining BIG in CAS.
[2] Yu Jun formalising this split by selling his stake in BGI for a minor sum.
[3] Its predecessor was Human Genome Research Center of Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology (CAS) which was founded in August 1998.
Besides coming out of the International Human Genome Project, other achievements of BIG included the participation of the International HapMap Project; the completion of the Chinese Superhybrid Rice (Oryza sativa L. ssp.