Francis Collins & Craig Venter

READING 5.4.2 FRANCIS COLLINS & CRAIG VENTER THEORIES OF EVOLUTION & LIFE Macquarie University Big History School: Core

Lexile® measure: 1090L MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY BIG HISTORY SCHOOL: CORE - READING 5.4.2. THEORIES OF EVOLUTION & LIFE: FRANCIS COLLINS & CRAIG VENTER - 1090L 2

Since the days of Lamarck and Darwin, our knowledge of the mechanisms that drive biological evolution has continued to advance. From 1990 to 2000, a number of scientists around the world engaged in the mapping of the human genome. FRANCIS COLLINS & CRAIG VENTER THEORIES OF EVOLUTION & LIFE By David Baker

The ambitious project charted the make-up and function of the human genome in exquisite detail using DNA from populations around the world. It was a major leap forward for science and our understanding of molecular biology. Not to mention human understanding of ourselves. Two main competitors entered the race to sequence the human genome first. One was the publicly backed Human Genome Project, which was led by Francis Collins. The other was Celera Genomics led by Craig Venter and funded through private money. Francis Collins was born in 1950 in Staunton, Virginia, USA. In school, he developed a keen interest in chemistry. He initially disliked the field of biology because it was too chaotic. Collins got his PhD in Physical Chemistry at Yale in 1974. He then transitioned to medical school, MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY BIG HISTORY SCHOOL: CORE - READING 5.4.2. THEORIES OF EVOLUTION & LIFE: FRANCIS COLLINS & CRAIG VENTER - 1090L 3

where he became a medical doctor, and worked at a hospital until 1981. From there Collins returned to Yale to research the human genetics, and then to University of Michigan in 1984, where he continued to develop methods for efficiently exploring the genome – much faster than previous methods. This was vital for Collins’ contribution to finding the gene that caused cystic fibrosis. This was one of many contributions that Collins made to the medical field via his research. In 1993, Francis Collins was appointed to succeed James Watson as director of the National Human Genome Research Institute. Watson was one of the scientists who built an accurate model of DNA in the 1950s. There Collins oversaw the public effort to map the human genome called the Human Genome Project. Several billion US dollars were invested in this effort and it was expected to take until 2005. But another competitor had entered the field… Craig Venter was born in 1946 in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. His family later moved to California. Venter did not put in much effort in his school education. Instead he spent most of his time having fun in the ocean. the human genome cheaper and faster. And if Venter beat the Human All that said, Venter was quite hard-working when he got an interest in Genome Project to the punch, he would be able to patent his discoveries, something. He was a swimming champ at his school, and built his own essentially “owning the human genome”. Venter’s progress was so rapid boat at the young age of eleven. Venter was drafted by the US Navy and that it astounded other scientists. entered the Vietnam War in the medical corps. He worked in a field hospital, helping to save lives. This experience instilled a desire in Venter Venter’s entry into the competition certainly put a lot of pressure on to go into medicine. He started out at a community college in San Mateo, Collins and the Human Genome Project to speed up the pace of their California, before moving on to University of California San Diego. In 1975, efforts. Instead of taking until 2005, the genome project was largely Venter had earned his PhD and became a researcher in the biomedical sequenced by the year 2000. In June of that year, Francis Collins and field. Craig Venter joined US President Bill Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair in the joint announcement that the human genome had been Venter saw the importance of mapping the human genome in order to mapped. Collins and Venter declared the race a “tie”. In fact, the Human better understand genetic illnesses, but could not find funding for his Genome Project had narrowly beaten Venter, and so he was not able to research within academia. So he set up a non-profit called the Institute patent human genome information. This meant that the research was for Genome Research. In exchange for venture capitalist funding, all of available free of charge for future research. the Institute’s discoveries would be patented by a private firm, Human Genome Sciences. After some success, Venter fell out with his financial The mapping of the human genome is arguably the most important backers and looked to new opportunities. advance in biology since Watson, Crick, & co., had created an accurate model for DNA half a century earlier. Not only does it help understand Venter thought the publicly-funded Human Genome Project was taking and treat many genetic diseases, it also gives us a greater understanding too long, and seized his chance. He got $300 million USD from private of human evolution. Including just how closely related all humans on backers to set up Celera Genomics. Venter publicly boasted he could map Earth happen to be! MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY BIG HISTORY SCHOOL: CORE - READING 5.4.2. THEORIES OF EVOLUTION & LIFE: FRANCIS COLLINS & CRAIG VENTER - 1090L 4

REFERENCES Davies, Kevin. Cracking the Genome: Inside the Race to Unlock DNA. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001. Collins, Francis. The Language of Life: DNA and the Revolution in Personalised Medicine. London: Profile Books, 2010. Venter, J. Craig. A Life Decoded: My Genome, My Life. London: Penguin, 2007.

IMAGE CREDITS ‘Centers of Excellence in Ethical, Legal and Social Implications Research (CEER)’ Credit: National Human Genome Research Institute, https://www.flickr.com/photos/ genomegov/27782139976/ Creative Commons BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/2.0/). ‘Chromosomes’ Credit: Kate Whitley/Wellcome Collection, https://wellcomecollection. org/works/kdqn9q8h Creative Commons BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/). ‘Centers for Common Diseases Genomics (CCDG)’ Credit: National Human Genome Research Institute, https://www.flickr.com/photos/genomegov/27816810735/ Creative Commons BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/).

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