Further Adventures of J. Craig Venter

Taken from Discover magazine

GENETICS-When last we heard from J. Craig Venter, he was sailing around the world in his 95-foot sloop, Sorcerer II, collecting water samples from the sea and inland takes. So far the voyage, which started in Nova Scotia and is now in the Caribbean, has more than doubled the number of know microorganisms-and uncovered millions of new genes. In 2005 Venter also began collecting and cataloging the microorganisms of urban air, starting with those floating in Midtown Manhattan. The J. Craig Venter Institute, a not-for-profit research group of more than 200 scientists and staff members, sequences the genes using the same techniques Venter developed to decode the human genome.

At the same time, institute scientists are trying to build new genes that have never existed on Earth. They hope to synthesize genes for specific purposes-the production of hydrogen, for instance. They are also sequencing cancer genes. Meanwhile, the institute is offering a $500,000 prize to anyone who can come up with a technique that would prove a full DNA analysis of a human for $1,000 or less.

In August Venter purchased the Norman Collection of microbiology archives, which contains the papers of genome pioneers like Francis Crick, James Watson, Rosalind Franklin, and Linus Pauling. It will be made available to researchers at the institute's Maryland headquarters. And if that isn't enough, keep an eye out for the institute's mobile education lab, a bus coming soon to a school near you...