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?

Still, the group issued a policy statement in March that said there are instances where whole genome sequencing can contribute to clinical care, such as in detecting mysterious diseases.

WSJ: Making Gene Mapping Part of Everyday Care

He says that when whole-genome sequencing arrives, single-gene patents will be of no use.

ECONOMIST: Patenting genes is bad for diagnosis

George Church, a molecular geneticist at Harvard Medical School and a pioneer of whole-genome sequencing, is unpersuaded.

ECONOMIST: Patenting genes is bad for diagnosis

But this sort of whole-genome sequencing, which has so far been completed on five bacteria, should allow a much better understanding of how bacteria work, what they have in common, and what makes individual species unique.

ECONOMIST: Stomach turning | The

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

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The central struggle was between the publicly funded international Human Genome Project, led by Francis Collins, a distinguished scientist and devout Christian, which pursued a slow-and-steady approach to sequencing until Celera, a private company led by Craig Venter, appeared on the scene and boldly claimed that its revolutionary new technique, whole-genome shot-gun sequencing, could do the job in less than half the time.

ECONOMIST: Medical research

He used a new DNA-sequencing technique called whole-genome shotgunning that he and a colleague, Hamilton Smith, had invented, and patented a good tranche of human genes on the way.

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