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J. Craig Venter
Craig Venter in 2007
Craig Venter in 2007
Born October 14, 1946 (1946-10-14) (age 61)
Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
Institutions State University of New York at Buffalo
National Institutes of Health
J. Craig Venter Institute
Alma mater University of California, San Diego
Known for DNA, human genome, and metagenomics

J. Events 1066 - Norman Conquest: Battle of Hastings - In England on Senlac Hill seven miles from Hastings, the forces Year 1946 ( MCMXLVI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full 1946 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Salt Lake City is the Capital and the most populous city of the U The State of Utah (ˈjuːtɔː or) is a western state of the United States. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the State University of New York at Buffalo, commonly known as University at Buffalo (UB is a Coeducational public research University, which "NIH" redirects here For other meanings of NIH see NIH (disambiguation. The J Craig Venter Institute is a non-profit Genomics Research institute founded by J Alma mater is Latin for "nourishing mother" It was used in Ancient Rome as a title for the mother Goddess, and in Medieval The University of California San Diego (popularly known as UC San Diego or UCSD) is a public Research university in San Diego, California Deoxyribonucleic acid ( DNA) is a Nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known The human genome is the Genome of Homo sapiens, which is stored on 23 chromosome pairs Metagenomics (also Environmental Genomics, Ecogenomics or Community Genomics) is the study of genetic material recovered directly from environmental Craig Venter (born John Craig Venter October 14, 1946, Salt Lake City, Utah) is an American biologist, and businessman. Events 1066 - Norman Conquest: Battle of Hastings - In England on Senlac Hill seven miles from Hastings, the forces Year 1946 ( MCMXLVI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full 1946 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Salt Lake City is the Capital and the most populous city of the U The United States of America —commonly referred to as the A biologist is a Scientist devoted to and producing results in Biology through the study of Organisms Typically biologists study organisms and their relationship [1] Venter founded The Institute for Genomic Research and was instrumental in mapping the human genome. The Institute for Genomic Research ( TIGR) was a Non-profit Genomics research institute founded in 1992 by Craig Venter in The human genome is the Genome of Homo sapiens, which is stored on 23 chromosome pairs [2] He was listed on Time Magazine's 2007 and 2008 Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world. Time (trademarked in capitals as TIME) is a weekly American Newsmagazine, similar to Newsweek and The Time 100 is an annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world as assembled by Time.

Contents

Biography

Venter is an ex-surfer and a Vietnam war veteran. According to Time, it was not always evident that he would become a transformative figure, particularly when he was a boy; according to his biography, A Life Decoded, he was said to be never a terribly engaged student, having Cs and Ds in his eighth grade report cards. [3]

He enlisted in the United States Navy and served a tour of duty during the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina War, or the Vietnam Conflict, occurred in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia While in Vietnam, he attempted to commit suicide by swimming out to sea, but changed his mind more than a mile out. [4][5]

Venter began his academic career at a community college, College of San Mateo in California. A community college is a type of Educational institution. The term has different meanings in different countries College of San Mateo (commonly referred to as CSM is a community college and part of the San Mateo County Community College District California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. He received his bachelor's degree in biochemistry in 1972, and his Ph.D. in physiology and pharmacology in 1975 — both from the University of California, San Diego. A bachelor's degree is usually an Undergraduate Academic degree awarded for a course or major that generally lasts for three four or in some cases and Biochemistry is the study of the chemical processes in living Organisms It deals with the Structure and function of cellular components such as "PhD" redirects here for other uses see PhD (disambiguation. Physiology (from Greek grc φύσις physis, "nature origin" and grc -λογία -logia) is the study of the mechanical physical Pharmacology (from Greek grc φάρμακον pharmakon, "drug" and grc -λογία -logia) is the study of how Drugs The University of California San Diego (popularly known as UC San Diego or UCSD) is a public Research university in San Diego, California In San Diego, he married former Ph. D. candidate, Barbara Rae. [6][7] After working as a professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo, he joined the National Institutes of Health in 1984. State University of New York at Buffalo, commonly known as University at Buffalo (UB is a Coeducational public research University, which "NIH" redirects here For other meanings of NIH see NIH (disambiguation. In Buffalo, he divorced Dr. Rae-Venter and married his student, Claire M. Fraser,[7] and remained married to Ms. Claire M Fraser-Liggett, PhD is an American microbiologist and the current head of the Institute for Genome Sciences (IGS at the University of Maryland School of Medicine Fraser until 2005. [8]

While at NIH, Venter learned of a technique for rapidly identifying all of the mRNAs present in a cell, and began to use it to identify human brain genes. Messenger ribonucleic acid ( mRNA) is a molecule of RNA encoding a chemical "blueprint" for a Protein product The short cDNA sequence fragments discovered by this method are called expressed sequence tags, or ESTs, a name coined by Anthony Kerlavage at The Institute for Genomic Research. In Genetics, complementary DNA ( cDNA) is DNA synthesized from a mature MRNA template in a reaction catalyzed by the enzyme Reverse An expressed sequence tag or EST is a short sub-sequence of a transcribed spliced nucleotide sequence (either Protein -coding or not The Institute for Genomic Research ( TIGR) was a Non-profit Genomics research institute founded in 1992 by Craig Venter in In a controversial court case, Venter tried to patent these gene fragments and lost the case. [9]

Human Genome Project

He was the former president and founder of Celera Genomics, which became famous for running a parallel version of the Human Genome Project of its own for commercial purposes, using shotgun sequencing technology in 1999. Celera Genomics ( was formerly a business unit of the Applera Corporation, but was spun off in July 2008 to become an independent publicly traded company The Human Genome Project (HGP was an international Scientific research project with a primary goal to determine the sequence of chemical base pairs which make up DNA In Genetics, shotgun sequencing, also known as shotgun cloning, is a method used for Sequencing long DNA strands The method was blasted by the international genetics community who derided it as unfeasible. The aim of the Celera project was to create a database of genomic data that users could subscribe to for a fee. This proved very unpopular in the genetics community and spurred several groups to redouble their efforts to produce the full sequence and release it as open access. At the same time, the HGP consortium applied political pressure to appropriate the shotgun technology and the collected data from Venter's company. There were also concerns that Venter might shatter what was supposed to be an "international" face on a landmark event in history. DNA from 5 individuals was used by Celera to generate the sequence of the human genome; one of the 5 individuals used in this project was Venter. Deoxyribonucleic acid ( DNA) is a Nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known In the end, Celera Genomics submitted to the pressure and shared its data and the credit for sequencing of the human genome with the international consortium of the Human Genome Project, which was composed of many groups from around the world. [10] After his inability to collect royalties for the Human Genome, Venter was fired by Celera in early 2002. Venter resisted efforts by the company board to change the strategic direction of the company.

Despite their differing motivations, Venter and rival scientist Francis Collins of the National Institute of Health jointly made the announcement of the mapping of the human genome in 2000, along with US President Bill Clinton. Francis S Collins (born April 14, 1950) MD, PhD, is an American Physician - Geneticist, noted for his landmark "NIH" redirects here For other meanings of NIH see NIH (disambiguation. The President of the United States is the Head of state and Head of government of the United States and is the highest political official in United States by William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton (born William Jefferson Blythe III, August 19 1946 served as the forty-second President of the United States [11] Venter and Collins thus shared an award for "Biography of the Year" from A&E Network. A&E is a cable and Satellite television network with headquarters in Manhattan and offices in Stamford, Atlanta, [12]

Current work

Venter founded The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) in 1992. The Institute for Genomic Research ( TIGR) was a Non-profit Genomics research institute founded in 1992 by Craig Venter in He is currently the president of the J. Craig Venter Institute, created and funded by TIGR's board (which Venter chairs). The J Craig Venter Institute is a non-profit Genomics Research institute founded by J In June of 2005, he co-founded Synthetic Genomics, a firm dedicated to using modified microorganisms to produce ethanol and hydrogen as alternative fuels. Synthetic Genomics is a company dedicated to using modified or synthetically produced Microorganisms to produce the Alternative fuels Ethanol and Hydrogen A microorganism (also spelled micro organism or micro-organism and also called a microbe) is an Organism that is Microscopic (usually Hydrogen (ˈhaɪdrədʒən is the Chemical element with Atomic number 1 Alternative fuels, also known as non-conventional Fuels are any Materials or substances that can be used as a Fuel, other than conventional fuels He used his sloop, Sorcerer II, in the Global Ocean Sampling Expedition to help assess genetic diversity in marine microbial communities. For the military definition of sloop see Sloop-of-war. For the open learning project see SLOOP Project. The Sorcerer II Global Ocean Sampling Expedition (GOS is an Ocean exploration Genome project with the goal of assessing the Genetic diversity in marine Genetic diversity is a level of Biodiversity that refers to the total number of genetic characteristics in the genetic makeup of a species [13]

Media coverage

Venter has been the subject of articles in several magazines, notably Wired,[14] The Economist,[15] Australian science magazine Cosmos,[16][17] and Atlantic Monthly. Wired is a full-color monthly American Magazine and on-line periodical published in San Francisco, California since March 1993 The Economist is an English-language weekly news and International affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd and edited in London Cosmos Magazine is an Australian popular science magazine that is published six times a year The Atlantic (formerly known as The Atlantic Monthly) is an American Magazine founded in Boston in 1857 [18] Additionally, he was featured on The Colbert Report on both February 27, 2007, and October 30, 2007. The Colbert Report (/kolˈbɛr rəˈpɔr/&mdashthe t is silent in "Colbert" is a Peabody Award and Emmy Award winning American Events 1560 - The Treaty of Berwick, which would expel the French from Scotland, is signed by England and the Congregation Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 637 - Antioch surrenders to the Muslim forces under Rashidun Caliphate after the Battle of Iron bridge. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century.

Venter appeared in the "Evolution" episode of the documentary television series Understanding. Understanding is a 1994-2002 TLC documentary television series about various things understood from a Scientific perspective

On May 10, 2007, Venter was awarded an honorary doctorate from Arizona State University. Events 1291 - Scottish Nobles recognize the authority of Edward I of England. Arizona State University ( ASU) is the largest public Research university in the United States under a single administration with total student [19] He was on the 2007 Time 100 most influential people in the world list made by Time magazine. The Time 100 is an annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world as assembled by Time.

On September 4, 2007, a team led by Venter published the first complete (six-billion-letter) genome of an individual human — Venter's own DNA sequence. Events 476 - Romulus Augustus, last emperor of the Western Roman Empire, is deposed when Odoacer proclaims himself Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. In classical genetics the genome of a Diploid Organism including Eukarya refers to a full set of chromosomes or genes in a Gamete, thereby [20]

On BBC News on October 22, 2007, when asked about his religious view he replied that he thought that a true scientist could not believe in supernatural explanations. Events 202 BC - Hannibal Barca, leader of the Carthaginians, is defeated by the Roman legions under Scipio Africanus Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century.

On December 4, 2007, Venter gave the Dimbleby lecture for the BBC in London. "December 4th" redirects here For the song by Jay-Z, see December 4th (song. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. The Richard Dimbleby Lecture (also known as the Dimblebly Lecture) was founded in the memory of Richard Dimbleby, the BBC broadcaster. He outlined his current work and future developments in genetics.

In February 2008, he gave speech about his current work at the TED conference. The video can be seen online. [21]

Individual human genome sequenced

On September 4, 2007, a team led by Sam Levy published the first complete (six-billion-letter) genome of an individual human — Venter's own DNA sequence. Events 476 - Romulus Augustus, last emperor of the Western Roman Empire, is deposed when Odoacer proclaims himself Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. In classical genetics the genome of a Diploid Organism including Eukarya refers to a full set of chromosomes or genes in a Gamete, thereby [20] Some of the sequences in Venter's genome are associated with wet earwax,[22] increased risk of antisocial behavior, Alzheimer's and cardiovascular diseases. [23] This publication was especially interesting since it contained a diploid instead of a haploid genome and shows promise for personalized medicine via genotyping. "Haplo" redirects here For the fictional character see The Death Gate Cycle. "Haplo" redirects here For the fictional character see The Death Gate Cycle. Genotyping refers to the process of determining the Genotype of an individual by the use of biological assays.

The Human Reference (HuRef) Genome Browser is a Web application (http://huref.jcvi.org) for the navigation and analysis of the Venter's recently published genome.

The HuRef database consists of approximately 32 million DNA reads sequenced using Sanger methods, assembled into 4,528 scaffolds and 4. 1 million DNA variations identified by genome analysis. These variants include Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs), block substitutions, short and large indels, structural variants like insertion, deletions, inversions and copy number changes.

The browser enables scientists to navigate the HuRef genome assembly and sequence variations, and to compare it with the NCBI human build 36 assembly in the context of the NCBI and Ensembl annotations. Ensembl is a joint scientific project between the European Bioinformatics Institute and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, which was launched in 1999 in response to the imminent The browser provides a comparative view between NCBI and HuRef consensus sequences, the sequence multi-alignment of the HuRef assembly, Ensembl and dbSNP annotations, HuRef variants, and the underlying variant evidence and functional analysis. The interface also represents the haplotype blocks from which diploid genome sequence can be inferred and the relation of variants to gene annotations. The display of variants and gene annotations are linked to external public resources including dbSNP, Ensembl , Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM) and Gene Ontology (GO). The Single Nucleotide Polymorphism database (dbSNP is a public-domain archive for a broad collection of simple genetic polymorphisms (SNPs and is hosted at the National Ensembl is a joint scientific project between the European Bioinformatics Institute and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, which was launched in 1999 in response to the imminent The Mendelian Inheritance in Man project is a Database that catalogues all the known Diseases with a genetic component, and—when possible—links them The Gene Ontology project or GO, provides a Controlled vocabulary to describe Gene and Gene product attributes in any Organism.

Users can search the HuRef genome using HUGO gene names, Ensembl and dbSNP identifiers, HuRef contig or scaffold locations, or NCBI chromosome locations. Users can then easily and quickly browse any genomic region via the simple and intuitive pan and zoom controls; furthermore relevant data in specific loci can be exported for further analysis.

Mycoplasma laboratorium

Venter is seeking to patent the first life-form created by humanity, possibly to be named Mycoplasma laboratorium. Mycoplasma laboratorium is a planned partially synthetic species of Bacterium derived from the Genome of Mycoplasma genitalium. [24] There is speculation that this line of research could lead to producing bacteria that have been engineered to perform specific reactions, e. g. produce fuels, make medicines, combat global warming, etc. [25]

New Scientist Interview

In a recent interview with New Scientist when asked "Assuming you can make synthetic bacteria, what will you do with them?", Venter replied

Over the next 20 years, synthetic genomics is going to become the standard for making anything. New Scientist is a weekly International science magazine and website covering recent developments in science and technology for a general English -speaking Synthetic life and artificial life (not to be confused with the field of Artificial Life) are terms used for attempts to recreate life from non-alive ( Abiotic The chemical industry will depend on it. Hopefully, a large part of the energy industry will depend on it. We really need to find an alternative to taking carbon out of the ground, burning it, and putting it into the atmosphere. That is the single biggest contribution I could make.

Furthermore it suggests that one of the main purposes for creating synthetic bacteria would be to reduce the dependence on fossil fuels. [26]

Further reading

Footnotes

  1. ^ Shreeve, Jamie (2005-10-31). Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Events 445 BC – Ezra reads the Book of the Law to the Israelites in Jerusalem (see Nehemiah 91 NLTse The Blueprint Of Life. Retrieved on 6 December 2007.
  2. ^ Craig Venter meets with BABS Students University of New South Wales (18 March 2005)
  3. ^ Time, February 4, 2008.
  4. ^ “Vietnam, sea snakes and a suicide bid”, The Guardian, October 9, 2007, <http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2007/oct/09/genetics.scienceandnature> 
  5. ^ Howse, Christopher (October 23, 2007), “Swimming back to life again”, UK Telegraph, <http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/ukcorrespondents/christopherhowse/oct07/swimming-back-to-life.htm> 
  6. ^ Rae-Venter Law Group
  7. ^ a b The god of small things - Science - Specials - smh.com.au
  8. ^ High-profile departure ends genome institute's charmed run, M. Wadman, Nature Medicine 13, 518 (2007).
  9. ^ In re Fisher, 421 F. 3d 1365 (2005).
  10. ^ Spufford, Francis [2003]. Backroom Boys. Faber.  
  11. ^ Jamie Shreeve, "The Blueprint of Life," U.S. News and World Report, 10/31/05, URL accessed 30 January 2007. USNews & World Report is an influential weekly American Newsmagazine published in Washington D
  12. ^ "Montgomery County, Maryland, Press Releases," December 19, 2000, URL accessed 30 January 2007.
  13. ^ Larkman, Kirell. "Yacht for Sale: Suited for Sailing, Surfing, and Seaborne Metagenomics", GenomeWeb. com, GenomeWeb News, September 7, 2007. Events 1251 BC - A Solar eclipse on this date might mark the birth of legendary Heracles at Thebes Greece. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Retrieved on 2007-09-07. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 1251 BC - A Solar eclipse on this date might mark the birth of legendary Heracles at Thebes Greece.  
  14. ^ Shreeve, James. "Craig Venter's Epic Voyage to Redefine the Origin of the Species," Wired, August 2004. Wired is a full-color monthly American Magazine and on-line periodical published in San Francisco, California since March 1993 Accessed June 7, 2007. Events 1099 - The First Crusade: The Siege of Jerusalem begins Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century.
  15. ^ "The Journey of the Sorcerer", The Economist, December 4, 2004. The Economist is an English-language weekly news and International affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd and edited in London "December 4th" redirects here For the song by Jay-Z, see December 4th (song. "MMIV" redirects here For the Modest Mouse album see " Baron von Bullshit Rides Again "
  16. ^ First individual person's genome decoded - Cosmos Magazine. September 4, 2007.
  17. ^ Geneticists on verge of creating artificial life - Cosmos Magazine. October 8, 2007.
  18. ^ Douthat, Ross. "The God of Small Things," Atlantic Monthly, Jan/Feb 2007. The Atlantic (formerly known as The Atlantic Monthly) is an American Magazine founded in Boston in 1857
  19. ^ Aufrett, Sarah. "ASU Celebrates Spring Graduates", ASU Insight, May 11, 2007. Events 330 - Byzantium is renamed ''Nova Roma'' during a dedication ceremony but is more popularly referred to as Constantinople Accessed June 7, 2007. Events 1099 - The First Crusade: The Siege of Jerusalem begins
  20. ^ a b Levy S, Sutton G, Ng PC, Feuk L, Halpern AL, et al. (2007). "The Diploid Genome Sequence of an Individual Human". PLoS Biology 5 (10). doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0050254. A digital object identifier ( DOI) is a permanent identifier given to an Electronic document.  
  21. ^ TED | Talks | Craig Venter: On the verge of creating synthetic life (video)
  22. ^ Omim - Ear Wax, Wet/Dry
  23. ^ Venter, J. C. (2007). A Life Decoded. ISBN 978-0-670-06358-1.  
  24. ^ Biologist Venter aims to create life from scratch
  25. ^ Man-made microbe 'to create endless biofuel' - Telegraph
  26. ^ New Scientist Issue 2626 Pg 57

References

External links


Persondata
NAME Venter, Craig
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Venter, John Craig
SHORT DESCRIPTION American biologist
DATE OF BIRTH October 14, 1946
PLACE OF BIRTH Salt Lake City
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH
New Scientist is a weekly International science magazine and website covering recent developments in science and technology for a general English -speaking Wired Science is a weekly high-definition television program that covers modern scientific and technological topics Philosophy Talk is a Talk radio program co-hosted by John Perry and Ken Taylor, who are professors at Stanford Bloggingheadstv is a Political, world events Philosophy, and Science Video blog discussion site in which the participants take part in an active TED ( Technology Entertainment Design) is an annual conference that defines its mission as "ideas worth spreading" A biologist is a Scientist devoted to and producing results in Biology through the study of Organisms Typically biologists study organisms and their relationship Events 1066 - Norman Conquest: Battle of Hastings - In England on Senlac Hill seven miles from Hastings, the forces Year 1946 ( MCMXLVI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full 1946 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Salt Lake City is the Capital and the most populous city of the U
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