Craig Venter

Founder and President, J. Craig Venter Institute

Craig Venter is one of the key contributors to genomic research. He is founder and president of the J. Craig Venter Institute, formed in October 2006 through the merger of several affiliated and legacy organizations including the Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) and the Center for the Advancement of Genomics (TCAG). Their research specializes in high volume genome sequencing, along with exploring the ethical and policy implications of genomic discoveries and advances. While on faculty at the National Institutes of Health, he developed expressed sequence tags or EST's, a revolutionary new strategy for discovering genes.

In 1992, he founded the Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR). There, he and his team decoded the genome of the first free-living organism, the bacterium Haemophilus influenzae, pioneering the new whole genome shotgun technique. In 1998, he became the first president of Celera Genomics to sequence the human genome using the whole genome shotgun technique, new mathematical algorithms, and new automated DNA sequencing machines. The completed sequence of the human genome was published in February 2001 in the journal, Science. In addition to the human genome, Venter and his team at Celera sequenced the fruit fly, mouse, and rat genomes. In 2003, he launched a global expedition to obtain and study microbes from environments ranging from the world's oceans to urban centers. This mission, now in progress, is yielding insights into genes that make up the vast realm of microbial life. Most recently he presented a seminar at the Long Now Foundation entitled "Joining 3.5 billion years of microbial invention" on February 25, 2008.

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2008, Long Now Foundation, Joining 3.5 Billion Years of Microbial Invention
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