TUESDAY: January 13, 2009 at 7:30 p.m. at the Virginia Air and Space Center in downtown Hampton, Virginia. FREE (no reservations).
The still relatively young field of genomics is transforming society in numerous ways. Dr. Craig Venter and his team have been the pioneers in this field and continue to blaze new trails. From the most recent complete diploid human genome and the discovery of millions of new genes from his global oceanographic expedition, to his quest to synthesize the first bacterial chromosome, Dr. Venter's lecture explores all the fascinating details of this work. He outlines for his audiences the implications this research has for new understanding of biology and life in general and the potential for development of new medical treatments and biological sources of energy.
J. Craig Venter, Ph.D., is regarded as one of the leading scientists of the 21st century for his invaluable contributions to genomic research. He is Founder, Chairman, and President of the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI), a not-for-profit, research organization with more than 400 scientist and staff dedicated to human, microbial, plant, synthetic, and environmental genomic research, as well as the exploration of social and ethical issues in genomics. He is also founder and CEO of Synthetic Genomics Inc., a privately held company dedicated to developing and commercializing synthetic genomic advances. The company is currently focused on solving pressing societal needs such as producing new alternative energies and biochemicals.
After a tour of duty as a Navy Corpsman in Vietnam from 1967 to 1968, Dr. Venter earned both a Bachelor's degree in Biochemistry and a Ph.D. in Physiology and Pharmacology from the University of California at San Diego. After leaving UCSD, he was appointed professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo and the Roswell Park Cancer Institute. In 1984, he moved to the National Institutes of Health campus where he developed Expressed Sequence Tags (ESTs,) a revolutionary new strategy for rapid gene discovery. In 1992 Dr. Venter founded The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR), a not-for-profit research institute, where in 1995 he and his team decoded the genome of the first free-living organism, the bacterium Haemophilus influenzae, using his new whole genome shotgun technique.
In 1998, Dr. Venter founded Celera Genomics to sequence the human genome with his new techniques. This research culminated with the February 2001 publication of the human genome in the journal, Science. He and his team there also sequenced the fruit fly, mouse and rat genomes. In 2002 after leaving Celera Dr. Venter and his team at the Venter Institute continued their ground breaking work in various areas of genomics. He and his teams continue to blaze new trails in genomics research and have published more than 50 genomes and numerous important papers covering such areas as environmental genomics, synthetic genomics and the first complete diploid genome.
To view a (near) full-size image of the flyer distributed to advertise this Sigma Series Lecture, click on the miniature version of the flyer below.
Last Updated: December 12, 2008 10:00 AM EDT.
http://shemesh.larc.nasa.gov/Lectures/sigma/s-090113.htm