Francis Collins & Craig Venter

Francis CollinsFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaFor other people named Francis Collins, see FrancisCollins (disambiguation).

Francis CollinsDirector of the NationalInstitutes of HealthIncumbentAssumed officeAugust 7, 2009President Barack ObamaPrecededby

Raynard Kington(Acting)

Personal details

Born

Francis SellersCollinsApril 14, 1950(age 65)Staunton, Virginia,U.S.

Politicalparty Democratic

Spouse(s) Diane Baker

Alma mater

University ofVirginiaYale UniversityUniversity of NorthCarolina,Chapel Hill

Religion EvangelicalChristian

Francis Sellers Collins (born April 14, 1950) is anAmerican physician-geneticist noted for his discoveriesof disease genes and his leadership of the Human GenomeProject. He is director of the National Institutes ofHealth (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland.

Before being appointed director of the NIH, Collins ledthe Human Genome Project and other genomics researchinitiatives as director of the National Human GenomeResearch Institute (NHGRI), one of the 27 institutesand centers at NIH. Before joining NHGRI, he earned areputation as a gene hunter at the University ofMichigan. He has been elected to the Institute ofMedicine and the National Academy of Sciences, and hasreceived the Presidential Medal of Freedom and theNational Medal of Science.

Collins also has written a number of books on science,medicine, and spirituality, including the New York Timesbestseller, The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence forBelief.

After leaving the helm of NHGRI and before becomingdirector of the NIH, he founded and served as presidentof The BioLogos Foundation, which promotes discourse onthe relationship between science and religion andadvocates the perspective that belief in Christianitycan be reconciled with acceptance of evolution andscience, especially through the advancement ofevolutionary creation.[1] In 2009, Pope Benedict XVI

appointed Collins to the Pontifical Academy ofSciences.

Contents 1 Early years 2 Genetics research 3 Genomics 4 NIH director

o 4.1 Nomination and confirmation o 4.2 Projects

5 Music 6 Awards and honors 7 Opinions

o 7.1 Christianity o 7.2 Agnosticism o 7.3 Abortion

8 Books 9 See also 10 References 11 Further reading 12 External links

Early yearsCollins is the youngest of four sons born to FletcherCollins and Margaret James Collins. Raised on a smallfarm in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, Collins was homeschooled until the sixth grade.[2] He attended Robert E.Lee High School in Staunton, Virginia. Through most ofhis high school and college years he aspired to be achemist, and he had little interest in what he thenconsidered the "messy" field of biology. What hereferred to as his "formative education" was received

at the University of Virginia, where he earned aBachelor of Science in Chemistry in 1970. He earned aDoctor of Philosophy in Physical Chemistry at YaleUniversity in 1974. While at Yale, a course inbiochemistry sparked his interest in the subject. Afterconsulting with his mentor from the University ofVirginia, Carl Trindle, he changed fields and enrolledin medical school at the University of North Carolinaat Chapel Hill, earning an Doctor of Medicine there in1977.

From 1978 to 1981, he served a residency and chiefresidency in internal medicine at North CarolinaMemorial Hospital in Chapel Hill. He then returned toYale, where he was a Fellow in Human Genetics at themedical school from 1981 to 1984.

Genetics researchAt Yale, Collins worked under the direction of ShermanWeissman, and in 1984 the two published a paper,"Directional Cloning of DNA Fragments at a Largedistance From an Initial Probe: a CircularizationMethod".[3] The method described was named chromosomejumping, to emphasize the contrast with an older andmuch more time-consuming method of copying DNAfragments called chromosome walking.[4]

Collins joined the University of Michigan faculty in1984, rising to the rank of professor in internalmedicine and human genetics. His gene-hunting approach,which he named "positional cloning",[5][6] developed intoa powerful[7] component of modern molecular genetics.

Several scientific teams worked in the 1970s and 1980sto identify genes and their loci as a cause of cysticfibrosis. Progress was modest until 1985, when Lap-CheeTsui and colleagues at Toronto's Hospital for SickChildren identified the locus for the gene.[8] It wasthen determined that a shortcut was needed to speed theprocess of identification, so Tsui contacted Collins,who agreed to collaborate with the Toronto team andshare his chromosome-jumping technique. The gene wasidentified in June 1989,[9][10] and the results werepublished in the journal Science on Sept. 8, 1989.[11]

This identification was followed by other geneticdiscoveries made by Collins and a variety ofcollaborators. They included isolation of the genes forHuntington's disease,[12] neurofibromatosis,[13][14]

multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1,[15] and Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome.[16]

GenomicsIn 1993, National Institutes of Health DirectorBernadine Healy appointed Collins to succeed James D.Watson as director of the National Center for HumanGenome Research, which became National Human GenomeResearch Institute (NHGRI) in 1997. As director, heoversaw the International Human Genome SequencingConsortium,[17] which was the group that successfullycarried out the Human Genome Project.

In 1994, Collins founded NHGRI's Division of IntramuralResearch,[18] a collection of investigator-directedlaboratories that conduct genome research on the NIHcampus.

In June 2000, Collins was joined by President BillClinton and biologist Craig Venter in making theannouncement of a working draft of the human genome.[19]

He stated that "It is humbling for me, and awe-inspiring to realize that we have caught the firstglimpse of our own instruction book, previously knownonly to God."[20][21][22] An initial analysis was publishedin February 2001, and scientists worked towardfinishing the reference version of the human genomesequence by 2003, coinciding with the 50th anniversaryof James D. Watson and Francis Crick's publication ofthe structure of DNA.

Another major activity at NHGRI during his tenure asdirector was the creation of the haplotype map of thehuman genome. This International HapMap Projectproduced a catalog of human genetic variations—calledsingle-nucleotide polymorphisms—which is now being usedto discover variants correlated with disease risk.Among the labs engaged in that effort is Collins' ownlab at NHGRI, which has sought to identify andunderstand the genetic variations that influence therisk of developing type 2 diabetes.

In addition to his basic genetic research andscientific leadership, Collins is known for his closeattention to ethical and legal issues in genetics. Hehas been a strong advocate for protecting the privacyof genetic information and has served as a nationalleader in securing the passage of the federal GeneticInformation and Nondiscrimination Act, which prohibitsgene-based discrimination in employment and healthinsurance.[23] In 2013, spurred by concerns over thepublication of the genome of the widely used HeLa cell

line derived from the late Henrietta Lacks, Collins andother NIH leaders worked with the Lacks family to reachan agreement to protect their privacy, while givingresearchers controlled access to the genomic data.[24]

Building on his own experiences as a physicianvolunteer in a rural missionary hospital in Nigeria,[25]

Collins is also very interested in opening avenues forgenome research to benefit the health of people livingin developing nations. For example, in 2010, he helpedestablish an initiative called Human Heredity andHealth in Africa (H3Africa)[26] to advance Africancapacity and expertise in genomic science.

Collins announced his resignation from NHGRI on May 28,2008, but has continued to maintain an active labthere.[27]

NIH directorNomination and confirmation

Collins with Health and Human Services SecretaryKathleen Sebelius after swearing-in ceremony

On July 8, 2009, President Barack Obama nominatedCollins as Director of the National Institutes ofHealth,[28] and the Senate unanimously confirmed him forthe post. He was sworn in by Health and Human ServicesSecretary Kathleen Sebelius on August 7, 2009.[29]

Science writer Jocelyn Kaiser opined that Collins was"known as a skilled administrator and excellentcommunicator," that Obama's nomination "did not come as

a big surprise" and that the appointment "ignited avolley of flattering remarks from researchers andbiomedical groups." Yet, she wrote, Collins "does havehis critics," some of them who were concerned with thenew director's "outspoken Christian faith."[30]

Washington Post staffer David Brown wrote, however, thatCollins' status as a "born-again Christian . . . mayhelp him build bridges with those who view some gene-based research as a potential threat to religiousvalues."[31] Collins' appointment was welcomed by thechief executive officer of the American Association forthe Advancement of Science [31] and by Bernadine Healy,the former head of the National Institutes of Health.[32]

In October 2009, shortly after his nomination as NIHdirector, Collins stated in an interview in The New YorkTimes: “I have made it clear that I have no religiousagenda for the N.I.H., and I think the vast majority ofscientists have been reassured by that and have movedon.”[33]

On Oct. 1, 2009, in the second of his four appearanceson The Colbert Report, Collins discussed his leadership atthe NIH and other topics such as personalized medicineand stem cell research. And, in November 2011, Collinswas included on The New Republic's list of Washington'smost powerful, least famous people. Collins appeared onthe series finale of The Colbert Report, participating in achorus with several other famous people singing "We'llMeet Again".[34][35]

Projects

Collins was instrumental in establishing the NationalCenter for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) onDec. 23, 2011.[36] Other projects included increasedsupport for Alzheimer's disease research, which wasannounced by Secretary Sebelius and Collins in May2012;[37] and the Brain Research through AdvancingInnovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative,announced by President Obama and Collins on April 2,2013, at the White House. In January 2013, Collinscreated two senior scientific positions as part of theNIH's response to an advisory group's recommendationson Big Data and the diversity of the scientificworkforce.[38] In June 2013 Collins announced plans tosubstantially reduce the use of chimpanzees in NIH-funded biomedical research.[39] In 2014, in response tointernal NIH working group recommendations, Collinsappointed Stanford cardiologist Hannah Valantine as theinstitution's first Chief Officer for ScientificWorkforce Diversity.[40]

MusicMention of Collins' love of guitar playing andmotorcycle riding can often be found in articles abouthim.[41] While directing NHGRI, he formed a rock bandwith other NIH scientists. Sometimes the band, called"The Directors," dueled with a rock band from JohnsHopkins University, led by cancer researcher BertVogelstein. Lyrics of The Directors' songs includedspoofs of rock and gospel classics re-written toaddress the challenges of contemporary biomedicalresearch.[42] Collins has performed at TEDMED 2012,StandUpToCancer,[43] and Rock Stars of Science.[44]

Awards and honorsWhile leading the National Human Genome ResearchInstitute, Collins was elected to the Institute ofMedicine and the National Academy of Sciences. He was aKilby International Awards recipient in 1993, and hereceived the Biotechnology Heritage Award with J. CraigVenter in 2001.[45][46] He received the William Allan Awardfrom the American Society of Human Genetics in 2005. In2007, he was presented with the Presidential Medal ofFreedom.[47] In 2008, he was awarded the Inamori EthicsPrize[48] and National Medal of Science.[49] In the sameyear, Collins won the Trotter Prize where he delivereda lecture called "The Language of God".

Collins and Venter shared the "Biography of the Year"title from A&E Network in 2000.[50] In 2005, Collins andVenter were honored as two of "America's Best Leaders"by U.S. News & World Report and the Harvard UniversityCenter for Public Leadership.[51]

Collins received the Albany Medical Center Prize in2010 and the Pro Bono Humanum Award of the GalienFoundation in 2012.[52]

OpinionsChristianity

Collins has described his parents as "only nominallyChristian" and by graduate school he considered himselfan atheist. However, dealing with dying patients ledhim to question his religious views, and heinvestigated various faiths. He familiarized himself

with the evidence for and against God in cosmology, andused Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis [53] as a foundation tore-examine his religious view. He eventually came to aconclusion, and became an Evangelical Christian duringa hike on a fall afternoon. He has described himself asa "serious Christian".[23]

In his 2006 book The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidencefor Belief, Collins wrote that scientific discoveries werean "opportunity to worship" and that he rejected bothYoung Earth creationism and intelligent design. His ownbelief, he wrote, was theistic evolution orevolutionary creation, which he preferred to callBioLogos. He wrote that one can "think of DNA as aninstructional script, a software program, sitting inthe nucleus of the cell".[54] He appeared in December2006 on The Colbert Report television show and in aMarch 2007 Fresh Air radio interview to discuss thisbook.[55][56]

Collins is a critic of intelligent design, and for thisreason he was not asked to participate in the 2008documentary Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. Walt Ruloff, aproducer for the film, claimed that by rejectingintelligent design, Collins was "toeing the partyline", which Collins called "just ludicrous".[57][clarification

needed] In 2007, Collins founded the BioLogos Foundation to"contribute to the public voice that represents theharmony of science and faith". He served as thefoundation's president until he was confirmed asdirector of the NIH.[58]

Agnosticism

In an interview with National Geographic in February 2007,writer John Horgan criticized Collins' description ofagnosticism as "a cop-out". In response, Collinsclarified his position on agnosticism so as to exclude

earnest agnostics who have considered the evidence andstill don't find an answer. I was reacting to theagnosticism I see in the scientific community, whichhas not been arrived at by a careful examination of theevidence. I went through a phase when I was a casualagnostic, and I am perhaps too quick to assume thatothers have no more depth than I did.[59]

Abortion

In a 1998 interview with Scientific American, Collinsstated that he is "intensely uncomfortable withabortion as a solution to anything" and does not"perceive a precise moment at which life begins otherthan the moment of conception".[60]

Books Principles of Medical Genetics, 2nd Edition, with T.D.

Gelehrter and D. Ginsburg (Williams & Wilkins,1998)

The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief (FreePress, 2006)

The Language of Life: DNA and the Revolution in PersonalizedMedicine (HarperCollins, published in early 2010)

Belief: Readings on the Reason for Faith (HarperOne, March 2,2010)

The Language of Science and Faith: Straight Answers to GenuineQuestions with Karl Giberson IVP Books (February 15,2011)

See also List of events in National Human Genome Research

Institute history Science and religion

References1.

"About The BioLogos Foundation". The BiologosFoundation. Retrieved 3 May 2014. We embrace thehistorical Christian faith, upholding the authority andinspiration of the Bible. We affirm evolutionarycreation, recognizing God as Creator of all life overbillions of years. We seek truth, ever learning as westudy the natural world and the Bible. Google Book Search The Language of God: AScientist Presents Evidence for Belief, Chapter 1 Francis S. Collins and Sherman M. Weissman (Nov1984). " Directional cloning of DNA fragments at a large distance from an initial probe: a circularization method " (PDF). Proc. Nat. Acad.Sci. USA. Retrieved 2011-09-29. Leon. E. Rosenberg (2006). " Introductory Speech for Francis S. Collins " . Retrieved 2011-09-29. "Positional cloning of human disease genes: areversal of scientific priorities" (PDF). University ofAlberta, Department of Biological Science. RetrievedOct 2011.

Collins F (1992). "Positional Cloning: Let's notcall it reverse anymore". Nature Genetics 1 (1): 3–6.doi:10.1038/ng0492-3. Nelson, David L. (Jun 1995). "Positional cloningreaches maturity". Curr Opin Genet Dev 5 (3): 298–303.doi:10.1016/0959-437X(95)80042-5. PMID 7549422.Retrieved Aug 25, 2014. Tsui, LC; Buchwald M; Barker D (29 November1985). "Cystic fibrosis locus defined by a geneticallylinked polymorphic DNA marker". Science 230 (4729): 1054–1057. doi:10.1126/science.2997931. Pines, Maya (2008). " Blazing a Genetic Trail/.../Jumping Toward the Gene " . Howard Hughes Medical Institute.Retrieved Oct 2011. Pines, Maya (2008). " Stalking a Lethal Gene:Discovering the Gene for Cystic Fibrosis " . Howard Hughes Medical Institute.Retrieved Oct 2011. Marx, J. (1989). "The cystic fibrosis gene isfound". Science 245 (4921): 923–5.Bibcode:1989Sci...245..923M.doi:10.1126/science.2772644. PMID 2772644. MacDonald, M (1993). "A novel gene containing atrinucleotide repeat that is expanded and unstable onHuntington's disease chromosomes". Cell 72 (6): 971–83.doi:10.1016/0092-8674(93)90585-E. PMID 8458085. Rubin, Raphael; Strayer, David S. (2008). Rubin'sPathology: Clinicopathologic Foundation of Medicine (5th ed.).Baltimore: Wolters Kluwer Health: Lippincot Williams &Wilkins. pp. 201–3. ISBN 978-0-7817-9516-6. Fauci et al. Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine (Smalltextbook) (16th ed.). p. 2453. Chandrasekharappa, S. C.; Guru, S. C.; Manickam,P; Olufemi, S. E.; Collins, F. S.; Emmert-Buck, M. R.;Debelenko, L. V.; Zhuang, Z; Lubensky, I. A.; Liotta,

L. A.; Crabtree, J. S.; Wang, Y; Roe, B. A.; Weisemann,J; Boguski, M. S.; Agarwal, S. K.; Kester, M. B.; Kim,Y. S.; Heppner, C; Dong, Q; Spiegel, A. M.; Burns, A.L.; Marx, S. J. (1997). "Positional Cloning of the Genefor Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia-Type 1". Science 276(5311): 404–7. doi:10.1126/science.276.5311.404.PMID 9103196. Eriksson, Maria; Brown, W. Ted; Gordon, LeslieB.; Glynn, Michael W.; Singer, Joel; Scott, Laura;Erdos, Michael R.; Robbins, Christiane M.; Moses, TracyY.; Berglund, Peter; Dutra, Amalia; Pak, Evgenia;Durkin, Sandra; Csoka, Antonei B.; Boehnke, Michael;Glover, Thomas W.; Collins, Francis S. (2003)."Recurrent de novo point mutations in lamin a causeHutchinson–Gilford progeria syndrome". Nature 423(6937): 293–8. Bibcode:2003Natur.423..293E.doi:10.1038/nature01629. PMID 12714972. "International Human Genome SequencingConsortium," National Human Genome Research Institute National Human Genome Research Institute (ed.)."The Division of Intramural Research". Retrieved Oct2011. Jamie Shreeve, "The Blueprint of Life," U.S. Newsand World Report, 10/31/05, URL accessed 30 January 2007. Simon, Stephanie. "Faithful to God, Science". LosAngeles Times. Retrieved 3 May 2014. "It is humblingfor me, and awe-inspiring," he said, standing atClinton's side, "to realize that we have caught thefirst glimpse of our own instruction book, previouslyknown only to God." That moment moved Collins -- who ismarried and has two grown daughters — to talk morepublicly about his faith and to write the book. "It'sbeen a bit like taking a public bath," he said.

Lennox, John C. (2009). God's Undertaker: Has ScienceBuried God?. Lion Books. p. 176. ISBN 9780745953717. Atthe public announcement of the completion of the HumanGenome Project, its director, Francis Collins, said:'It is humbling for me and awe-inspiring to realizethat we have caught the first glimpse of our owninstruction book, previously known only to God.' "President Clinton, British Prime Minister TonyBlair Deliver Remarks on Human Genome Milestone". CNN.26 June 2000. Retrieved 3 May 2014. "Transcript, Bob Abernethy's interview with Dr.Francis Collins, director of the Human Genome Projectat the National Institutes of Health.". PBS, Religionand Ethics Newsweekly. Retrieved Oct 2011. Collins, "The NIH Director: The HeLa Genome: AnAgreement on Privacy and Access," National Institutesof Health, undated "Scientist at work: Francis S. Collins; unlockingthe secrets of the Genome". The New York Times. Nov1993. National Institutes of Health, "NIH and WellcomeTrust Announce Partnership to Support Population-BasedGenome Studies in Africa," NIH News, June 22, 2010 Chemical & Engineering News, Vol. 86 No. 31, Aug.04, 2008, p. 33, "Francis Collins leaves NIH" "President Obama Announces Intent to NominateFrancis Collins as NIH Director," Press Office, theWhite House, July 8, 2009 Secretary Sebelius Announces Senate Confirmationof Dr. Francis Collins as Director of the NationalInstitutes of Health 7-Aug-09 Kaiser, J. (2009). "White House Taps FormerGenome Chief Francis Collins as NIH Director". Science

325 (5938): 250–1. doi:10.1126/science.325_250a.PMID 19608881. "Obama picks Francis Collins as new NIHDirector". Washington Post. July 8, 2009. Retrieved Oct2011. Francis Collins Leader for the 21st Century NIHUS News & World Report 9-June-09 Harris, Gardiner (October 6, 2009). "For N.I.H.Chief, Issues of Identity and Culture". The New York Times.Retrieved May 2, 2010. The Editors (2011-11-03). "Washington's MostPowerful, Least Famous People". The New Republic.Retrieved 2011-10-25. "Francis Collins". The Colbert Report. 2009-10-01. Retrieved 2009-10-18. "NIH Establishes National Center for AdvancingTranslational Sciences," National Institutes of Health,News and Events, December 23, 2011 "Researchers, Advocates Gather to AccelerateAlzheimer's Research," NIH Record, June 22, 2012 "Big Data, Diversity Initiatives Get ActingDirectors," NIH Record, February 1, 2013 "NIH to Reduce Significantly the Use ofChimpanzees in Research," "News and Events," NationalInstitutes of Health, June 26, 2013 "Hannah Valantine, M.D., named NIH’s first ChiefOfficer for Scientific Workforce Diversity". News &Events. National Institutes of Health. 20 January 2014.Retrieved 8 March 2015. *"Jesus Goes to Bethesda: Just how religious isObama's nominee for director of the NIH?". ChrisWilson. Slate. July 9, 2009

*"Science Writers Entertained By High-PoweredBattle Of The Bands". The NIH Catalyst. Celia Hooper.Jan/Feb 1998. Kaplan, Karen (Sep 18, 2010). "To scientists,he's the real rock star". Los Angeles Times. [1] Rock S.O.S. program, 2009 "Past Winners of the Biotechnology HeritageAward". Chemical Heritage Foundation. Retrieved 5February 2014. Strickland, Debbie (13 June 2001). "GenomicLeaders Receive 2001 Biotechnology Heritage Award".BIO. Retrieved 5 February 2014. NIH Record - Collins Wins Presidential Medal of Freedom "Inamori Ethics Prize, Past Recipients," CaseWestern Reserve University National Science Foundation - The President'sNational Medal of Science "Montgomery County, Maryland, Press Releases,"December 19, 2000, URL accessed 30 January 2007. "U.S. News & World Report," 2005, URL accessed 4February 2008. "Dr. Collins' Acceptance Remarks on the Pro BonoHumanum Award of the Galien Foundation," NationalInstitutes of Health, October 16, 2012 Steve Paulson, "The Believer," Salon.com, Aug. 7,2006 Collins, Francis (4 September 2008). The Language ofGod: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief. Simon and Schuster.ISBN 9781847396150. "Francis Collins". The Colbert Report. 2006-12-06. Retrieved 2009-10-18. "Francis Collins on 'The Language of God'". FreshAir. 2007-03-29.

Dean, Cornelia (September 27, 2007). "ScientistsFeel Miscast in Film on Life's Origin". The New York Times.Retrieved May 2, 2010. BioLogos website Francis Collins: The Scientist as Believer Feb.2007

60. Beardsley T (1995). "Profile: Where Scienceand Religion Meet". Scientific American 278 (2): 28–29.

Further reading "Dr. Francis S. Collins: On The Trail Of Disease

Genes". Businessweek. John Carey. May 9, 2005. "Collins Forms BioLogos Foundation" . Newsletter of the

American Scientific Affiliation. Jul/Aug 2009.

External linksWikimedia Commons has media related toFrancis Collins.Wikiquote has quotations relatedto: Francis Collins

The BioLogos Foundation NIH Bio NHRGI Bio

Craig VenterFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaCraig Venter

Venter in 2007

Born

John Craig VenterOctober 14, 1946(age 68)Salt Lake City,Utah, U.S.

Institutions

State University ofNew York at BuffaloNational Institutesof HealthJ. Craig VenterInstitute

Alma materUniversity ofCalifornia, SanDiego

Known for

DNAHuman genomeMetagenomicsSynthetic genomicsShotgun approach togenome sequencing

Notableawards

Gairdner Award (2002)Nierenberg Prize(2007)Kistler Prize (2008)ENI award (2008)Medal of Science(2008)Dickson Prize (2011)

WebsiteJ. Craig Venter Institute

John Craig Venter (born October 14, 1946) is anAmerican biochemist, geneticist, and entrepreneur. Heis known for being one of the first to sequence thehuman genome [1] and the first to transfect a cell with asynthetic genome.[2][3] Venter founded Celera Genomics,The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) and the J.Craig Venter Institute (JCVI), and is now working atJCVI to create synthetic biological organisms. He waslisted on Time magazine's 2007 and 2008 Time 100 list ofthe most influential people in the world. In 2010, theBritish magazine New Statesman listed Craig Venter at14th in the list of "The World's 50 Most InfluentialFigures 2010".[4] He is a member of the USA Science andEngineering Festival's Advisory Board.[5]

Contents 1 Early life and education 2 Career

o 2.1 EST controversy o 2.2 Human Genome Project o 2.3 Global Ocean Sampling Expedition o 2.4 Synthetic genomics o 2.5 Individual human genome o 2.6 Human Longevity, Inc.

3 Author of two books 4 In popular culture 5 Awards and nominations 6 Bibliography 7 Further reading 8 See also 9 References 10 External links

Early life and educationVenter was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, the son ofElizabeth and John Venter.[6] In his youth, he did nottake his education seriously, preferring to spend histime on the water in boats or surfing.[7] According tohis biography, A Life Decoded, he was said to never be aterribly engaged student, having Cs and Ds on hiseighth-grade report cards.[8] He graduated from MillsHigh School in Millbrae, California.

Although he was against the Vietnam War,[9] Venter wasdrafted and enlisted in the United States Navy where heworked in the intensive-care ward of a field hospital.[10] While in Vietnam, he attempted suicide by swimmingout to sea, but changed his mind more than a mile out.[11] Being confronted with wounded, maimed, and dying[marines] on a daily basis instilled in him a desire tostudy medicine[12] — although he later switched tobiomedical research.

Venter began his college education at a communitycollege, College of San Mateo in California, and latertransferred to the University of California, San Diego,where he studied under biochemist Nathan O. Kaplan. Hereceived a BS in biochemistry in 1972, and a PhD inphysiology and pharmacology in 1975, both from UCSD.[13]

He married former PhD candidate Barbara Rae.[14][15][16]

After working as an associate professor, and later asfull professor, at the State University of New York atBuffalo, he joined the National Institutes of Health in1984.

In Buffalo, he divorced Dr. Rae-Venter and married hisstudent, Claire M. Fraser,[15] remaining married to heruntil 2005.[17] In late 2008 he married Heather Kowalski.[18] They live in La Jolla outside San Diego, Californiawhere Venter gut-renovated a $6 million home.[18]

Venter is an atheist.[19]

Venter himself recognized his own ADHD behavior in hisadolescence, and later found ADHD-linked genes in hisown DNA.[20]

CareerEST controversy

While an employee of the NIH, Venter used a techniquefor rapidly identifying all of the mRNAs present in acell and began to use it to identify human brain genes.The short cDNA sequence fragments discovered by thismethod are called expressed sequence tags (ESTs). TheNIH Office of Technology Transfer and Venter decided touse these ESTs to attempt to patent the genes theyidentified based on the ESTs alone. When Venterdisclosed this strategy during a Congressional hearing,a firestorm of controversy erupted.[21] The NIH laterstopped the effort and abandoned the patentapplications it had filed, following public outcry.[22]

Human Genome Project

Main article: Human Genome Project

Venter was passionate about the power of genomics toradically transform healthcare. Venter believed that

shotgun sequencing was the fastest and most effectiveway to get useful human genome data.[23] The method wasrejected by the Human Genome Project however, sincesome geneticists felt it would not be accurate enoughfor a genome as complicated as that of humans, that itwould be logistically more difficult, and that it wouldcost significantly more.[24][25]

Frustrated with what Venter viewed as the slow pace ofprogress in the Human Genome project, and unable to getfunds for his ideas, he sought funding from the privatesector to fund Celera Genomics.[26] The goal of thecompany was to sequence the entire human genome andrelease it into the public domain for non-commercialuse in much less time and for much less cost than thepublic human genome project. The company planned toprofit from their work by creating a value-addeddatabase of genomic data to which users could subscribefor a fee. The goal consequently put pressure on thepublic genome program and spurred several groups toredouble their efforts to produce the full sequence.DNA from five demographically different individuals wasused by Celera to generate the sequence of the humangenome; one of the individuals was Venter himself.

In 2000, Venter and Francis Collins of the NationalInstitutes of Health and U.S. Public Genome Projectjointly made the announcement of the mapping of thehuman genome, a full three years ahead of the expectedend of the Public Genome Program. The announcement wasmade along with U.S. President Bill Clinton, and UKPrime Minister Tony Blair.[27] Venter and Collins thusshared an award for "Biography of the Year" from A&ENetwork.[28] On the 15 February 2001, the Human Genome

Project consortium published the first Human Genome inthe journal Nature, and was followed, one day later, bya Celera publication in Science.[29][30] Despite someclaims that shotgun sequencing was in some ways lessaccurate than the clone-by-clone method chosen by theHuman Genome Project,[31] the technique became widelyaccepted by the scientific community.

Although Celera was originally set to sequence acomposite of DNA samples, partway through thesequencing, Venter switched the samples for his ownDNA.[32]

After contributing to the Human Genome, and its releaseinto the public domain, Venter was fired by Celera inearly 2002.[33] According to his biography, Venter wasready to leave Celera, and was fired due to conflictwith the main investor, Tony White, that had existedsince day one of the project. Venter writes that hismain goal was always to accelerate science and therebydiscovery, and he only sought help from the corporateworld when he could not find funding in the publicsector.

Global Ocean Sampling Expedition

The Global Ocean Sampling Expedition (GOS) is an oceanexploration genome project with the goal of assessingthe genetic diversity in marine microbial communitiesand to understand their role in nature's fundamentalprocesses. Begun as a Sargasso Sea pilot samplingproject in August 2003, Craig Venter announced the fullExpedition on 4 March 2004. The project, which usedCraig Venter's personal yacht, Sorcerer II, started in

Halifax, Canada, circumnavigated the globe and returnedto the U.S. in January 2006.[34]

Synthetic genomics

J. Craig Venter Institute in Rockville, Maryland

Venter is currently the president of the J. CraigVenter Institute, which conducts research in syntheticbiology. In June 2005, he co-founded SyntheticGenomics, a firm dedicated to using modifiedmicroorganisms to produce clean fuels and biochemicals.In July 2009, ExxonMobil announced a $600 millioncollaboration with Synthetic Genomics to research anddevelop next-generation biofuels.[35]

Venter is seeking to patent the first partiallysynthetic species possibly to be named Mycoplasmalaboratorium.[36] There is speculation that this line ofresearch could lead to producing bacteria that havebeen engineered to perform specific reactions, forexample, produce fuels, make medicines, combat globalwarming, and so on.[37]

In May 2010, a team of scientists led by Venter becamethe first to successfully create what was described as"synthetic life".[38][39] This was done by synthesizing avery long DNA molecule containing an entire bacteriumgenome, and introducing this into another cell,analogous to the accomplishment of Eckard Wimmer'sgroup, who synthesized and ligated an RNA virus genomeand "booted" it in cell lysate.[40] The single-celledorganism contains four "watermarks"[41] written into its

DNA to identify it as synthetic and to help trace itsdescendants. The watermarks include

1.Code table for entire alphabet with punctuations2.Names of 46 contributing scientists3.Three quotations4.The secret email address for the cell.[42]

Individual human genome

On September 4, 2007, a team led by Sam Levy publishedthe first complete (six-billion-letter) genome of anindividual human—Venter's own DNA sequence.[43] Some ofthe sequences in Venter's genome are associated withwet earwax,[44] increased risk of antisocial behavior,Alzheimer's and cardiovascular diseases.[45] Thispublication was especially interesting since itcontained a diploid instead of a haploid genome andshows promise for personalized medicine via genotyping.[original research?] This genome, dubbed HuRef by Levy and others,was a landmark accomplishment and as of 2010 isprobably the highest quality personal genome sequenceyet completed.

The Human Reference Genome Browser is a web applicationfor the navigation and analysis of Venter's recentlypublished genome. The HuRef database consists ofapproximately 32 million DNA reads sequenced usingmicrofluidic Sanger sequencing, assembled into 4,528scaffolds and 4.1 million DNA variations identified bygenome analysis. These variants include single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), block substitutions,short and large indels, and structural variations likeinsertions, deletions, inversions and copy numberchanges.

The browser enables scientists to navigate the HuRefgenome assembly and sequence variations, and to compareit with the NCBI human build 36 assembly in the contextof the NCBI and Ensembl annotations. The browserprovides a comparative view between NCBI and HuRefconsensus sequences, the sequence multi-alignment ofthe HuRef assembly, Ensembl and dbSNP annotations,HuRef variants, and the underlying variant evidence andfunctional analysis. The interface also represents thehaplotype blocks from which diploid genome sequence canbe inferred and the relation of variants to geneannotations. The display of variants and geneannotations are linked to external public resourcesincluding dbSNP, Ensembl, Online Mendelian Inheritancein Man (OMIM) and Gene Ontology (GO).

Users can search the HuRef genome using HUGO genenames, Ensembl and dbSNP identifiers, HuRef contig orscaffold locations, or NCBI chromosome locations. Userscan then easily and quickly browse any genomic regionvia the simple and intuitive pan and zoom controls;furthermore, data relevant to specific loci can beexported for further analysis.

Human Longevity, Inc.

On March 4, 2014 Venter and co-founders Peter Diamandisand Robert Hariri announced the formation of HumanLongevity, Inc., a company focused on extending thehealthy, "high performance", human lifespan.[46][47][48] Atthe time of the announcement the company had alreadyraised $70 million in venture financing, which wasexpected to last 18 months.[46][47] Venter is the chairmanand chief executive officer (CEO). The company said

that it plans to sequence 40,000 genomes per year, withan initial focus on cancer genomes and the genomes ofcancer patients.[46]

Human Longevity's mission is to extend healthy humanlifespan by the use of high-resolution big datadiagnostics from genomics, metabolomics, microbiomics,and proteomics, and the use of stem cell therapy.[49]

Author of two booksVenter is the author of two books, the first of whichwas ostensively an autobiography titled A Life Decoded.[50]

Venter's second book was titled Life at the Speed of Light inwhich he announced his theory that this is thegeneration in which there appears to be a dovetailingof the two previously diverse fields of sciencerepresented by computer programming and the geneticprogramming of life by DNA sequencing.[51] He wasapplauded for his position on this by futurist RayKurzweil.

In popular cultureVenter has been the subject of several biography books,several scientific documentary books, TV documentaries,numerous magazine articles, and many speeches.

Venter has been the subject of articles in severalmagazines, including Wired,[52] The Economist,[53] Australianscience magazine Cosmos,[54][55] and The Atlantic.[56]

Additionally, he was featured on The Colbert Report on bothFebruary 27, 2007, and October 30, 2007.

Venter appeared in the "Evolution" episode of thedocumentary television series Understanding.

On May 16, 2004, Venter gave the commencement speech atBoston University.[57]

In a 2007 interview with New Scientist when asked"Assuming you can make synthetic bacteria, what willyou do with them?", Venter replied: "Over the next 20years, synthetic genomics is going to become thestandard for making anything. The chemical industrywill depend on it. Hopefully, a large part of theenergy industry will depend on it. We really need tofind an alternative to taking carbon out of the ground,burning it, and putting it into the atmosphere. That isthe single biggest contribution I could make."

Furthermore it suggests that one of the main purposesfor creating synthetic bacteria would be to reduce thedependence on fossil fuels through bioremediation.[58]

He was on the 2007 Time 100 most influential people inthe world list made by Time magazine. In 2007 he alsoreceived the Golden Eurydice Award for contributions toBiophilosophy.

On September 4, 2007, a team led by Venter publishedthe first complete (six-billion-letter) genome of anindividual human — Venter's own DNA sequence.[43]

On December 4, 2007, Venter gave the Dimbleby lecturefor the BBC in London. In February 2008, he gave aspeech about his current work at the TED conference.[59]

Venter delivered the 2008 convocation speech forFaculty of Science honours and specialization studentsat the University of Alberta. A transcription of thespeech is available here.[60]

Venter was featured in Time magazine's "The Top 10Everything of 2008" article. Number three in 2008's Top10 Scientific Discoveries was a piece outlining hiswork stitching together the 582,000 base pairsnecessary to invent the genetic information for a wholenew bacterium.[61]

For an episode aired on July 27, 2009, Venter wasinterviewed on his boat by BBC One for the firstepisode of TV show Bang Goes the Theory.

On May 20, 2010, Venter announced the creation of firstself-replicating semi-synthetic bacterial cell.[62]

On November 21, 2010 Steve Kroft profiled Venter andhis research on 60 Minutes.

In the June 2011 issue of Men's Journal, Venter wasfeatured as the "Survival Skills" celebrity of themonth. He shared various anecdotes, and advice,including stories of his time in Vietnam, as well asmentioning a bout with melanoma upon his back, whichsubsequently resulted in "giving a pound of flesh" tosurgery.[63]

Venter is mentioned, in the season finale of the firstseason of the science fiction series Orphan Black, ajoint production of Space and BBC America. In theepisode, Venter is referenced as patenting an organismand encoding a message in the genome of that organism,

an act repeated by the character of Aldous Leekie(played by Matt Frewer). While the clones fear thatthis renders them as nothing more than property, inreality, in the United States and Canada, where theshow primarily takes place, it is likely that such apatent would either be entirely unenforceable or wouldto the genomic sequence of the organism only, due toconstitutional provisions and laws against owning humanbeings.

Awards and nominations 2001: Venter received the Biotechnology Heritage

Award with Francis Collins.[64][65]

2007: On May 10, 2007, Venter was awarded anhonorary doctorate from Arizona State University,[66]

and on October 24 of the same year, he received anhonorary doctorate from Imperial College London.[67]

2008: Double Helix Medal from Cold Spring HarborLaboratory [68]

2008: Kistler Prize from Foundation For the Futurefor genome research[69]

2008: ENI award for Research & Environment[70]

2008: National Medal of Science from PresidentObama[71]

2010: On May 8, 2010, Venter received an honorarydoctor of science degree from Clarkson Universityfor his work on the human genome.[72]

2011: On April 21, 2011, Venter received the 2011Benjamin Rush Medal from William & Mary School ofLaw.[73]

2011: Dickson Prize in Medicine[74]

2015: On April 14, 2015, Venter received theLeeuwenhoek Medal.

BibliographyVenter is an ISI highly cited researcher and hasauthored over 200 publications in scientific journals.[75]

Fleischmann, Robert D.; Adams, Mark D.; White,Owen; Clayton, Rebecca; . . . Venter, J. Craig(July 28, 1995). "Whole-Genome Random Sequencingand Assembly of Haemophilus influenzae Rd". Science(Washington, DC: American Association for theAdvancement of Science) 269 (5223): 496–512.Bibcode:1995Sci...269..496F.doi:10.1126/science.7542800. PMID 7542800.

Tomb, Jean-F.; White, Owen; Kerlavage, Anthony R.;Clayton, Rebecca A.; Sutton, Granger G.;Fleischmann, Robert D.; . . . Venter, J. Craig(August 7, 1997). "The complete genome sequence ofthe gastric pathogen Helicobacter pylori". Nature(London, England: Nature Publishing Group) 388(6642): 539–47. doi:10.1038/41483. PMID 9252185.

Adams, Mark D.; Celniker, Susan E.; Holt, RobertA.; Evans, Cheryl A.; Goccayne, Jeannine A.;Amanatides, Peter G.; . . . Venter, J. Craig (March24, 2000). "The genome sequence of Drosophilamelanogaster". Science (Washington, DC: AmericanAssociation for the Advancement of Science) 287(5461): 2185–95. Bibcode:2000Sci...287.2185..doi:10.1126/science.287.5461.2185. PMID 10731132.

Venter, J. C.; Adams, M.; Myers, E.; Li, P.; Mural,R.; Sutton, G.; Smith, H.; Yandell, M.; Evans, C.;Holt, R. A.; Gocayne, J. D.; Amanatides, P.;Ballew, R. M.; Huson, D. H.; Wortman, J. R.; Zhang,Q.; Kodira, C. D.; Zheng, X. H.; Chen, L.; Skupski,

M.; Subramanian, G.; Thomas, P. D.; Zhang, J.;Gabor Miklos, G. L.; Nelson, C.; Broder, S.; Clark,A. G.; Nadeau, J.; McKusick, V. A.; Zinder, N.(2001). "The Sequence of the Human Genome". Science291 (5507): 1304–1351. Bibcode:2001Sci...291.1304V.doi:10.1126/science.1058040. PMID 11181995. edit

Venter, J. C.; Remington, K.; Heidelberg, J.;Halpern, A.; Rusch, D.; Eisen, J.; Wu, D.; Paulsen,I.; Nelson, K.; Nelson, W.; Fouts, D. E.; Levy, S.;Knap, A. H.; Lomas, M. W.; Nealson, K.; White, O.;Peterson, J.; Hoffman, J.; Parsons, R.; Baden-Tillson, H.; Pfannkoch, C.; Rogers, Y. H.; Smith,H. O. (2004). "Environmental Genome ShotgunSequencing of the Sargasso Sea". Science 304 (5667):66–74. Bibcode:2004Sci...304...66V.doi:10.1126/science.1093857. PMID 15001713. edit

Rusch, Donald B.; Halpern, Aaron L.; Sutton,Granger; Heidelberg, Karla B.; Williamson, Shannon;Yooseph, Shibu; Wu, Dongying; . . . Venter, J.Craig (March 13, 2007). "The Sorcerer II Global Ocean Sampling expedition: Northwest Atlantic throughEastern Tropical Pacific". PLoS Biology (PublicLibrary of Science) 5 (3): 398–431.doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0050077. PMC 1821060.PMID 17355176.

Yooseph, Shibu; Sutton, Granger; Rusch, Donald B.;Halpern, Aaron L.; Williamson, Shannon; Remington,Karin; Eisen, Jonathan A.; . . . Venter, J. Craig(March 13, 2007). "The Sorcerer II Global Ocean Sampling Expedition: Expanding the Universe ofProtein Families". PLoS Biology (Public Library ofScience) 5 (3): 432–466.doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0050016. PMC 1821046.PMID 17355171.

Venter, J. Craig (October 18, 2007). A Life Decoded: MyGenome: My Life. New York, New York: Viking Adult.ISBN 0-670-06358-4. OCLC 165048736. editor RogerHighfield

Venter, J. Craig (October 17, 2013). Life at the Speed ofLight: From the Double Helix to the Dawn of Digital Life. NewYork, New York: Viking Adult. ISBN 9780670025404.OCLC 834432832. editor Roger Highfield

Further reading Ewing-Duncan, David (2006). Masterminds: Genius, DNA, and

the Quest to Rewrite Life. New York, New York: HarperPerennial. ISBN 978-0-00-716184-3.

Shreeve, James (2004). The Genome War: How Craig VenterTried to Capture the Code of Life and Save the World. New York,New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0-375-40629-8.

Sulston, John ; Ferry, Georgina (2002). The CommonThread: A Story of Science, Politics, Ethics and the Human Genome.Washington, D.C.: Joseph Henry Press. ISBN 0-309-08409-1.

See alsoBiography portal

Evolutionary biology portal

Molecular and cellular biologyportal

Biotechnology portal

Marine life portal

Nautical portal

Artificial gene synthesis

Eckard Wimmer Full genome sequencing Genetic testing Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters Metagenomics Personal genomics Pharmacogenomics Predictive medicine

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75. "Venter, J. Craig". ISIHighlyCited.com. August19, 2003. Retrieved October 17, 2009. (subscriptionrequired (help)).

External linksWikiquote has quotations relatedto: Craig VenterWikimedia Commons has media related toCraig Venter.Wikinews has related news: US scientist says he createdfirst 'artificial life form'

Human Longevity, Inc. HuRef Genome Browser J. Craig Venter Institute Sorcerer II Expedition Synthetic Genomics The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR)

Media

Craig Venter at TED Craig Venter collected news and commentary at The

New York Times Cracking the code to life , The Guardian, October 8,

2007 Craig Venter interview , Wired Science, December 2007

(video) Video of interview/discussion with Craig Venter by

Carl Zimmer on Bloggingheads.tv Craig Venter: A voyage of DNA, genes and the sea on

YouTube – TED (Technology Entertainment Design)conference (video)

Webcast of Venter talk 'Genomics: From humans to the environment' at The James Martin 21st CenturySchool

The Richard Dimbleby Lecture 2007 – Dr. J. Craig Venter – A DNA Driven World

A short course on synthetic genomics. Edge Master Class 2009

"J. Craig Venter: Designing Life" . 60 Minutes. 2010-11-21. CBS.