J. Craig Venter Institute - Early History

Early History

The pre-history of JCVI is deeply entwined with the race to sequence the human genome. Craig Venter was a researcher at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and had started The Institute for Genomic Research, a nonprofit private research institute, in 1992 to work on various sequencing projects, including the Human Genome Project (HGP). Among the various accomplishments of TIGR was the first complete genomic sequencing of a free living organism, Haemophilus influenzae, in 1995. This used a shotgun sequencing technique pioneered earlier, but which had never been used for a whole bacterium until TIGR's project.

Venter vocally disagreed with the manner in which the HGP project was being managed, and in 1998, TIGR found itself excluded from the U.S. HGP groups selected for continued funding by NIH. In May 1998, Venter announced that he was quitting the HGP and had joined with investors to start a commercial venture, Celera, which would produce the complete genome sequence in three years – seven years' less time than the HGP timetable. The costs of the sequencing effort would be recovered by marketing the sequences, which would be held in a proprietary database as intellectual property protected by patent. Dozens of other companies including Incyte Pharmaceuticals and Human Genome Sciences also began patenting sequences.

To many researchers, the thought of gene patenting was anathema. They worried about a future in which they would need to secure dozens of licenses from private firms before they could conduct research. To them, the notion of patenting a naturally occurring substance violated common sense. In response to their outcry, the NIH massively increased the pace of its own sequencing endeavours, adopting several of the strategies that Venter had announced that he was using to expedite Celera's sequencing campaign. The political, personal, and ethical conflicts of the race between the public and private sectors in this effort have been documented in numerous books and articles.

TIGR, meanwhile, continued its own list of accomplishments. TIGR scientist Claire Fraser led the projects to sequence the second bacterium, Mycoplasma genitalium in 1995, and less than a year later TIGR's Carol Bult led the project to sequence the first genome of an Archaeal species, Methanococcus jannaschii. TIGR followed these accomplishments with the genomes of the pathogenic bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi (which causes Lyme Disease) in 1997 and Treponema pallidum (which causes syphilis) in 1998. In 1999 TIGR published the sequence of the radioresistant polyextremophile Deinococcus radiodurans. TIGR eventually sequenced and analyzed more than 50 microbial genomes. Its bioinformatics group developed many of the pioneering software algorithms that were used to analyze these genomes, including the automatic gene finder GLIMMER and the sequence alignment program MUMmer.

Following the 2001 anthrax attacks, TIGR partnered with the National Science Foundation and the FBI to sequence the strain of Bacillus anthracis used in those attacks. The results of this analysis were published in the journal Science in 2002. The genetic evidence was later credited by the FBI with helping to pinpoint the precise sample of anthrax bacteria, from a lab in Fort Detrick, Maryland, that was the source of the attacks.

After the race to sequence a draft human genome ended in a virtual tie in June 2000, Celera began an abrupt decline in its fortunes, and in 2002, Venter was dismissed as its head. Venter subsequently switched his focus to philanthropic projects, and later that year founded The Center for the Advancement of Genomics (TCAG), a not-for-profit policy center in Rockville, Maryland. It studied social and ethical issues surrounding genomic science, including such issues such as genetic privacy, discrimination, and the genetics of ethnicity and stem cells. It was dedicated to education of the general public, elected officials, and students. TCAG published an online news magazine Genome News Network, whose publication continues to this day.

Also in 2002, Venter founded the Institute for Biological Energy Alternatives (IBEA) to research the possibility of using genomic techniques to engineer microbes with enhanced capacity to produce alternate fuels (such as hydrogen) as a clean energy source, as well as microorganisms engineered to sequester carbon dioxide. As part of its efforts, IBEA undertook large-scale genomic sequencing of environmental microbial populations hoping to discover new organisms that might be of value for its goals.

To provide production support for these facilities, Venter created the J. Craig Venter Institute Joint Technology Center (JTC), which specialized in high throughput sequencing: Under the leadership of Yu Hui Rogers, the JTC sequenced nearly 100 million base pairs of DNA per day for its affiliated institutions.

To provide administrative and financial support for TIGR, TCAG, IBEA and JTC, Venter created the non-profit J. Craig Venter Science Foundation (JCVSF), providing it with an initial endowment of $100 million of his own money. JCVSF coordinated policy and research activities between its affiliated organizations, and carried out investment management and fund-raising activities on their behalf. In addition, JCVSF explored ways to foster science education and scientific innovation.

2004 marked the beginning of a series of cost-cutting consolidations, beginning with the merging of TCAG, IBEA and JTC into the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI). The consolidations were complete by October 2006.