Annual Meeting

When DNA was discovered back in 1953, scientists crowed that they had found the instructions to life. Arranged in a long string, like letters in a sentence, DNA provides the guidelines to build living things ranging from bacteria to blue whales. But a complete set of genetic directions for a given animal — also known as a genome — proved devilishly difficult to obtain. Even simple microbes were found to have surprisingly long DNA strings, and the methods used to read those“ sentences” were laborious and logistically difficult.

A biologist named J. Craig Venter changed all that. His groundbreaking discovery — a fast and accurate method to decipher long stretches of DNA — has led to a dizzying array of scientific advancements. Venter will be the featured speaker January 25 at the annual joint meeting of Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula’s Auxiliary and Community Hospital Foundation, beginning with a noon luncheon at the Monterey Conference Center.

With this technology, Venter established the Center for the Advancement of Genomics. The team started out small — sequencing the genome of the microbe Haemophilus influenzae in 1995. They were soon ready for larger conquests.

In 1998, Venter founded Celera Genomics and helped lead the historic effort to read the genetic code of human beings. Already, scientists are using the results to study genetic disorders, design new drugs, and unravel the course of human evolution. Since then, Venter and colleagues have gone on to sequence the complete genetic blueprint for the fruit fly, mouse, and more than 30 other species.

Now the 58-year-old Venter is using his so-called shotgun sequencing technology to benefit the environment. In 2003, he helped launch the expedition of the Sorcerer II, which will circumnavigate the globe in search of new ocean organisms.

Marine microbes are so abundant, Venter says, “our whole atmosphere, ocean chemistry, and much more are determined to some extent by their metabolisms. But scientists have considered the oceans a black box in terms of metabolism because no one knew what was there. Now we’re starting to find out.”

Every 200 miles, the expedition takes a 200-liter sample of seawater and reads all the genetic information it contains. The results so far have been astonishing.

For example, the Sargasso Sea off Bermuda has yielded more than 1.2 million new genes belonging to up to 47,000 new species.

Among these tiny creatures, Venter seeks a means to convert sunlight into energy usable in houses, factories, and cars. At a time when burning fossil fuels threatens the stability of our global climate, his search for a clean source of energy is a natural continuation of his drive to improve human health and welfare.