Editing Craig Venter (section)

===Human Genome Project===
{{main|Human Genome Project}}
Venter was passionate about the power of genomics to transform healthcare radically. Venter believed that [[shotgun sequencing]] was the fastest and most effective way to get useful human genome data.<ref name="Weber-1997">{{Cite journal  | last1 = Weber | first1 = James L.  | last2 = Myers | first2 = Eugene W.  | date = 1997 | journal = [[Genome Research]] | volume = 7 | issue = 5 | title = Human Whole-Genome Shotgun Sequencing | pages = 401–409 | doi = 10.1101/gr.7.5.401  | pmid=9149936
| citeseerx = 10.1.1.117.8090}}</ref> The method was rejected by the Human Genome Project however, since some geneticists felt it would not be accurate enough for a genome as complicated as that of humans, that it would be logistically more difficult, and that it would cost significantly more.<ref>Gannett, Lisa, [http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/human-genome/ The Human Genome Project Entry in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy] (Fall 2010 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.)</ref><ref name="Green-1997">{{Cite journal  | last = Green | first   =Philip | date = 1997 | journal = Genome Research | volume = 7 | issue = 5 | title = Against a Whole-Genome Shotgun | pages = 410–417 | doi = 10.1101/gr.7.5.410 | pmid = 9149937  | doi-access = free }}</ref>

Venter viewed the slow pace of progress in the Human Genome project as an opportunity to continue his interest in trying his shotgun sequencing method to speed up the human genome sequencing so when he was offered funding from a DNA sequencing company to start [[Celera Genomics]].<ref>{{cite book| author = Victor K. McElheny| title = Drawing the Map of Life: Inside the Human Genome Project| date = 2010| publisher = Basic Books (AZ)| isbn = 978-0-465-04333-0| url-access = registration| url = https://archive.org/details/drawingmapoflife0000mcel}}</ref> The company planned to profit from their work by creating genomic data to which users could subscribe for a fee. The goal consequently put pressure on the public genome program and spurred several groups to redouble their efforts to produce the full sequence. Venter's effort won him renown as he and his team at [[Celera Corporation]] shared credit for sequencing the first draft human genome with the publicly funded [[Human Genome Project]].<ref name="Singer-2007">{{cite news |first=Emily |last=Singer |url=http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/19328/?a=f |title=Craig Venter's Genome |newspaper=[[MIT Technology Review]] |date=September 4, 2007 |access-date=October 12, 2014 |quote=The genome we published at Celera was a composite of five people.&nbsp;... After leaving Celera in 2002, Venter announced that much of the genome that had been sequenced there was his own. |archive-date=June 7, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607104347/http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/19328/?a=f |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 2000, Venter and [[Francis Collins (geneticist)|Francis Collins]] of the [[National Institutes of Health]] and U.S. Public Genome Project jointly made the announcement of the mapping of the human genome, a full three years ahead of the expected end of the Public Genome Program. The announcement was made along with U.S. President [[Bill Clinton]], and UK Prime Minister [[Tony Blair]].<ref name="Shreeve-2005">{{cite news |first=Jamie |last=Shreeve |url=https://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/051031/31genome.htm |title=The Blueprint of Life |newspaper=[[U.S. News & World Report]] |date=October 31, 2005 |access-date=January 30, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120502000233/http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/051031/31genome.htm |archive-date=May 2, 2012 }}</ref> Venter and Collins thus shared an award for "Biography of the Year" from [[A&E Network]].<ref name="Montgomery County, Maryland Government-2000">"{{cite press release |url=http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/mc/news/press/00-463.html |title=Time Magazine Dubs Montgomery County "DNA Alley" |publisher=[[Montgomery County, Maryland|Montgomery County, Maryland Government]] |date=December 19, 2000 |access-date=January 30, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061013151412/http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/mc/news/press/00-463.html |archive-date=October 13, 2006 }}</ref>
On February 15, 2001, the Human Genome Project consortium published the first Human Genome in the journal ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]'', followed one day later by a Celera publication in ''[[Science (journal)|Science]]''.<ref name="Venter-2001">{{Cite journal | last1 = Venter | first1 = J. C. | author-link1 = Craig Venter| last2 = Adams | first2 = M. | last3 = Myers | first3 = E. | last4 = Li | first4 = P. | last5 = Mural | first5 = R. | last6 = Sutton | first6 = G. | last7 = Smith | first7 = H. | last8 = Yandell | first8 = M. | last9 = Evans | first9 = C. | last10 = Holt | first10 = R. A. | last11 = Gocayne | first11 = J. D. | last12 = Amanatides | first12 = P. | last13 = Ballew | first13 = R. M. | last14 = Huson | first14 = D. H. | last15 = Wortman | first15 = J. R. | last16 = Zhang | first16 = Q. | last17 = Kodira | first17 = C. D. | last18 = Zheng | first18 = X. H. | last19 = Chen | first19 = L. | last20 = Skupski | first20 = M. | last21 = Subramanian | first21 = G. | last22 = Thomas | first22 = P. D. | last23 = Zhang | first23 = J. | last24 = Gabor Miklos | first24 = G. L. | last25 = Nelson | first25 = C. | last26 = Broder | first26 = S. | last27 = Clark | first27 = A. G. | last28 = Nadeau | first28 = J. | last29 = McKusick | first29 = V. A. | last30 = Zinder | first30 = N. | title = The Sequence of the Human Genome | doi = 10.1126/science.1058040 | journal = Science | volume = 291 | issue = 5507 | pages = 1304–1351 | year = 2001 | pmid   =11181995| bibcode = 2001Sci...291.1304V | display-authors = 29 | doi-access = free }}</ref><ref name="Lander-2001">{{Cite journal | first1 = E. S.| last1 = Lander| author-link1 = Eric Lander| last2 = Linton | first2 = M. | last3 = Birren | first3 = B. | last4 = Nusbaum | first4 = C. | last5 = Zody | first5 = C.| last6 = Baldwin | first6 = J. | last7 = Devon | first7 = K. | last8 = Dewar | first8 = K. | last9 = Doyle | first9 = M. | last10 = Fitzhugh | first10 = W. | last11 = Funke | first11 = R. | last12 = Gage | first12 = D. | last13 = Harris | first13 = K. | last14 = Heaford | first14 = A. | last15 = Howland | first15 = J. | last16 = Kann | first16 = L. | last17 = Lehoczky | first17 = J. | last18 = Levine | first18 = R. | last19 = McEwan | first19 = P. | last20 = McKernan | first20 = K. | last21 = Meldrim | first21 = J. | last22 = Mesirov | first22 = J. P. | last23 = Miranda | first23 = C. | last24 = Morris | first24 = W. | last25 = Naylor | first25 = J. | last26 = Raymond | first26 = C. | last27 = Rosetti | first27 = M. | last28 = Santos | first28 = R. | last29 = Sheridan | first29 = A. | last30 = Sougnez | first30 = C. | display-authors = 29| title = Initial sequencing and analysis of the human genome | journal = Nature | volume = 409 | issue = 6822 | pages = 860–921 | date =Feb 2001  | issn = 0028-0836 | pmid = 11237011 | doi = 10.1038/35057062|bibcode = 2001Natur.409..860L | url = https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/62798/1/409860a0.pdf | doi-access = free }}</ref> Despite some claims that [[shotgun sequencing]] was in some ways less accurate than the clone-by-clone method chosen by the Human Genome Project,<ref name="Olson-2002">{{Cite journal  | last = Olson | first = M.V. | date = 2002
 | title = The Human Genome Project: A Player's Perspective | journal = Journal of Molecular Biology | volume = 319 | issue = 4 | pages = 931–942 | doi = 10.1016/S0022-2836(02)00333-9 | pmid = 12079320 | citeseerx = 10.1.1.624.505 }}</ref> the technique became widely accepted by the scientific community.

Venter was fired by Celera in early 2002.<ref>{{cite news |first=Antonio |last=Regalo |title=Maverick biologist at work on next goal: creating life |newspaper=[[Seattle Times]] |date=July 24, 2005}}</ref> According to his biography, Venter was fired because of a conflict with the main investor, Tony White, specifically barring him from attending the White House ceremony celebrating the achievement of sequencing the human genome.