He directs the MedSeq Project, the first National Institutes of Health study to examine the impact of whole genome sequencing in the practice of medicine.

WSJ: Should Healthy People Have Their Genomes Sequenced?

The cost and time taken to sequencing the whole genome of a bacterium has plummeted.

BBC: C. diff spread 'fast and easy'

At the time, Venter was trying to accelerate the process of sequencing whole genomes, first one-celled organisms, but ultimately gearing up to take on the decoding of the human genome.

FORBES: Venter and the Vatican