Venter vs. Venter

     Craig Venter was a pompous man, and this characteristic lost him the war of the Human Genome.  His inability to contain his ego enticed the public program to implement new procedures to speed up the sequencing of the genome by five years.  His quest to make a name for himself began after his stint in the army during the Vietnam War.  His enlistment as a medic enabled him to see the true horrors of life.  After exiting the armed forces, Venter’s new ambition was to “change the world” but his repeated failures while searching for brain proteins and receptors had set him back (Shreeve 76).

     When the opportunity arose to spearhead the private Human Genome Project, Venter’s recklessness forced him to take on an immense workload and responsibility.   The pressure put on someone to sequence the Human Genome correctly and in a timely manner is huge, but Venter’s inability to control his temper cost him a great deal of time and man power.  For instance, Craig’s disregard for Millman’s wishes on patenting the genes wasted valuable time and money towards operational costs of Celera.  If Craig would have been nicer in voicing his opinion on the openness of Celera’s research and accepted Millman’s rebuttal the genome could have been found faster.

     Another instance of Venter’s inability to control his ego occurred when he suggested to the brilliant minds of the public genome project that they “could do the mouse” while the new, privately funded company could complete the renowned human genome.  This insult towards Collins and his colleagues may have inspired in them to develop new algorithms and machinery to sequence and map the genome.  Although it took a lot of confidence for Venter to publically proclaim Celera’s superior abilities, this constant boasting was the ultimate downfall of his company’s chances for victory.

     The final collapse of Venter was after the completion of the genome.  After years of his insistence that Tony White’s company would come out on top, White himself expected a victory by a large margin.  The result of a tie brought about the immediate downfall of Craig Venter’s career at Celera ending his claim to any further findings the company produced.  Over the span of four years, Craig’s reputation in the genomic world was never great, but he could trust his key Celera employees.  Unfortunately, as the years went on it his popularity declined especially in the eyes of his boss.  In the end Venter received credit for the genome, but no in the way he intended.  For the four years he invested into the genome project he was fighting himself the entire time.

Shreeve, James. The Genome War: How Craig Venter Tried to Capture the Code of Life and Save the World. New York: Baltimore, 2005. Print.