Word: molecular
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...chromosomes--the long, twisted strands of DNA cradled in protein at the heart of every human cell. But they had deciphered, or sequenced, only a handful of the many-hundred-word "sentences" that each gene represents--sentences made up of three-letter "words" built in turn from four available molecular "letters," represented...
...This will be our most powerful tool," says Collins. "Finding these weak-susceptibility genes will be moderately useful for predicting risk, but they will be far more useful in allowing us to see the real molecular basis of diseases--all diseases--whether it's multiple sclerosis or brain tumors or diabetes." The truth is that no one can predict exactly what breakthroughs might result from the deciphering of the human genome. As Venter puts it: "It's like it was before electricity. No one could have envisioned personal computers back then...
Venter's Miami gene festival captured many sides of a complex personality that seems to thrive on rattling the world of molecular biology. In his most recent seismic event, the maverick-millionaire-scientist-cum-rock-fan announced last May that his privately funded lab will decode the entire human genome years faster and for hundreds of million of dollars less than the U.S. government's vaunted Human Genome Project...
...brazen challenge to the scientific establishment, but Venter has a genius for making the tools of molecular biology do big things. He has decoded more genes, and faster, than anyone else in the world. He pioneered the use of automated gene sequencers. He developed the most widely used method of tagging bits of genes. And he was first to sequence the genome of an entire living organism. Nearly half the genomes that have been decoded to date were decoded...
...constant motion--lecturing in Europe, raising money on Wall Street, opening satellite centers in California. The closest he comes to relaxing is sailing on his 82-ft. sloop, the Sorcerer. Even that's a challenge. "He seldom goes for a day sail," says his wife Claire Fraser, a noted molecular biologist. "When he goes sailing, he's got to cross oceans...