Craig Venter - The Incredible Biodiversity of the Oceans

Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2008/02/25/Joining_3_5_Billion_Years_of_Microbial_Invention

Celebrity geneticist Craig Venter discusses the enormous diversity of microbial life existing in our global oceans.

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Joining 3.5 Billion Years of Microbial Invention featuring biologist J. Craig Venter.

Biologist, author and businessman Craig Venter discusses his work mapping and synthesizing genomes. Venter recalls his work mapping the human genome and expands on his current work which includes categorizing new genes and species of microbes from ocean water. Venter also explains how microbial research can be used for metabolic engineering and alternative energy sources.

J. Craig Venter, PH.D. is regarded as one of the leading scientists of the 21st century for his contributions to genomic research and is one of the country’s most frequently cited scientists. He is Founder and President of the J. Craig Venter Institute and J. Craig Venter Science Foundation, not-for-profit research and support organizations dedicated to human genomic research, exploration of social and ethical issues in genomics, and alternative energy solutions through microbial sources. He is also the Founder and Chairman of the Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR).

Dr. Venter began his formal education after serving as a Navy Corpsman in Danang, Vietnam from 1967 to 1968. After earning a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and a Ph.D. in physiology and pharmacology, both from the University of California at San Diego and both in three years, 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, where he developed expressed-sequence tags (ESTs), a revolutionary strategy for gene discovery. In 1992, he founded TIGR, where he and his team decoded the genome of the first free-living organism, the bacterium Haemophilus influenzae, using an original whole-genome shotgun technique. Since then, TIGR has sequenced more than 50 genomes using Dr. Venter's techniques.

Dr. Venter is the author of more than 200 articles and the recipient of numerous honorary degrees, public honors, and scientific awards, including the Financial Times Man of the Year Award, TIME Magazine Man of the Year (runner up), 2002 Gairdner Foundation International Award, and the 2001 Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize. Dr. Venter is a member of numerous prestigious scientific organizations including, including the National Academy of Sciences, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and American Society for Microbiology. He was also one of the first 38 people to be selected by Desmond Tutu as part of the "Hands That Shape Humanity" world exhibition.

Dr. Venter's autobiography A Life Decoded was published in October of 2007.

Category:

Science & Technology

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• biology
• dna
• genetics
• rna
• microbes
• science
• scientist
• genome
• virus
• viruses
• bacteria
• sea
• water
• salt
• boat
• ship
• tests
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[sugarpuddin88]

Yes - Scientific Questions ARE dangerous!

Why they might uncover the fallacy in mans love for "magical thinking"

It might even undermine whole religious belief systems

[DJLorenzen]

they have discovered 20 mio new genes? and in the human body there is about 25000 genes +/- ?

that is a lot of genes. but how do they know? have they found out the dna of the new organisms in detail or only a rough "gene map"?

[sugarpuddin88]

Ha! Someone actually gave me a negative prop!

Weren't there 4 presidential candidates that thought the world was only 6000 years old?

20% of USA illiterate - 1996 Drug News

25% of USA drop out of HS - less than 15% have college

US Poverty 2nd only to Mexico - European Dream p 81

US highest infant mortality; Cuba safer child birthing - NYT Jan 12 2005

US leads child birth death 70% greater than europe - CNN Dec 14 2004

South Africa is the only other country not to provide health care

[windham666]

the planet is alive. Too bad we, at least most of us, THINK we aren't just another species among the zillions.

[GottOngeloof]

God forbid! ;D