A Life Decoded: My Genome, My Life

Опубликовано 6 сентября 2016, 16:52

One of the great landmarks in the history of science occurred when J. Craig Venter published the first sequence and analysis of the human genome, and did it earlier and for less money than the government sponsored Human Genome Project. An indifferent and uninspired student who nearly failed high school, Venter spent his early years as a medic in Vietnam, and then went on to advanced study and a reputation as a gifted, controversial and outspoken scientist. At the National Institutes of Health he introduced novel techniques for rapid gene discovery, and his own research institute in 1995 sequenced the first genome of a living species in history. This led him to the more ambitious goal of sequencing the entire human genome, a goal he fulfilled in 2001. Venter's current work involves collecting microbial life from the world's oceans toward his new goals: using modified microorganisms to produce alternative fuels and to patent the first life-form created by man.