Yale Bulletin and Calendar

April 19, 2002

Volume 30, Number 26

Dr. J. Craig Venter

Leader in genome sequencing
to speak at medical school

Dr. J. Craig Venter, chair of the board of The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR), will discuss "Sequencing the Human Genome" on Wednesday, April 24.

His presentation -- which will be streamed internationally via the Internet at www.med.yale.edu/library -- is the 54th annual Keynote Lecture sponsored by the Associates of the Cushing/Whitney Medical Library at the School of Medicine. It will take place at 4 p.m. in the Historical Library, 333 Cedar St. The talk is free and open to the public.

Venter is the former president and founder of Celera Genomics and has played a leading role in sequencing and analyzing the human genome. His accomplishments in decoding the genetic sequences of other organisms, particularly the fruit fly and mouse, have provided important insights and a new understanding of the genetic relationship between species.

As a laboratory chief scientist at the National Institute of Medicine, Venter developed EST's, or expressed sequence tags, a revolutionary new strategy for gene discovery. In 1992, he and his wife, Dr. Claire Fraser, founded The Institute for Genomic Research, known as TIGR. Venter served as president and chief scientific officer of TIGR until 1998. He and his team there decoded the genome of the bacterium Haemophilus influenzae, making it the first free-living organism to have its full DNA deciphered. To date, the researchers have sequenced over 24 genomes.

These and other contributions have earned him many awards, including the Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize, the Takeda Award 2001 Techno-Entrepreneneurial Achievement for Individual/Humanity Well-Being and the Sigma Xi Common Wealth Award.

The Associates of the Cushing/Whitney Medical Library have had an ongoing commitment since 1948 to aid in supporting special acquisitions and projects not covered by the usual library budgetary constraints. These include the purchase of rare medical books and manuscripts -- including the incunabula Paneth Codex, which compiled all the medical knowledge available during the 14th century -- as well as the digitization of the entire Fry Print Collection and the creation of a Library Imaging Center.

As chair of the organization's board of trustees, Dr. Martin E. Gordon, clinical professor of medicine, coordinates the associates' events and produces exhibits pertaining to their presentations.

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Campus Notes