Purpose: criminal
Base of Operations: mobile

History: As the decade of the 1970's was beginning, three eager and talented geneticists (Timothy Kale, Victor Stane and Abigail Hawkins) lobbied the United States Congress to fund a government supported research project. At the time, there was interest forming in the studies of DNA and genetics. Senator Godfrey Bedlows was very influential in lobbying for the bill passage by both houses. By 1972, Project: Genetics was up and running with a charter to study the genetic make-up of super-power individuals (also known as metahumans). Kenneth Ransberg was appointed director of the Project.

Ransberg, however, had bigger plans for the Project. With Kale and Stane, he began experiments in gene manipulation. The "volunteers" for this work were drawn from the unemployed, runaways, orphans, the homeless and other "John Doe" individuals. The initial success rate was only 1 in 10 with a better chance coming from younger specimens. The downside of this, though, was that young people took longer to show results - sometimes up to five years or more. Older specimens showed more immediate results, however, often there too was a higher rate of rejection of the genetic modification, leading to total physiological breakdown. Those individuals who could not adjust to their new existence were terminated, usually within the first few months of alteration.

Both Senator Bedlows and Dr. Hawkins learned of these secret activities many years later. Bedlows took payment to keep quiet. Hawkins had to be silenced in another manner; she soon disappeared. Whether or not she was killed is not known.

A number of the first successes of the Project were the individuals who would become the Zodiac Gang. This team of super-humans continued to be under direct control of the Project, although the connection has never been publicly made. The Zodiac Gang takes on missions for the Project, yet they are also free to pursue their own criminal careers. The group's first public activities brought them into conflict with the heroic Justice Gang in 1984.

Other successes have been made available to master criminals for a substantial fee. Some operatives have also been made use of by the United States government (but again, only the very high ranking officials knew about the source of the genetic manipulations). All money was fed back into the Project.

In 1976, the US government opinions shifted. Soon it was also supporting Porject Salvation, an anti-mutant operation. Four years later, the government decided to drop both programs due to conflicts between the project and external pressures. The tensions between the two groups continues to this day, with the Project: Genetics operatives being hunted by Genocide robotas and agents (and vice versas).

As an independent and secret organization, Project: Genetics continued to grow and their success ratio has greatly improved. They continue to sutdy naturally born metahumans (heroes and villains). One of the study methods is called "the Viper Sting", supervised by Kale. He is also responsible for a special team of operatives called the New Genetics.

Stane has luanched his own study involving large group testing. In 1997, he opened a night club in Los Angeles, California, called "New Beginnings" wherein patrons were all bombarded with radiation, followed by a destruction of the club itself. Some humans survived the ordeal and have shown signs of metahuman abilities. Stane has engaged these individuals for further study.