Craig Venter needs no introduction, and if you thought that now that he has given up the presidency of Celera Genomics his name would disappear from the newspaper headlines, then think again. For Venter, who described himself in The New York Times (US) as “a superenzyme [...] catalyzing things”, has now “announced that the DNA his company used was largely his own” (New Scientist).

At the time, Celera claimed that the DNA they used for sequencing came from a pool of 21 anonymous donors. It seems however that Venter “had overridden the process when he was the head of the company, with the result that its genome was mostly based on his DNA” (Observer, UK). Interestingly, analysis of his own data revealed that Venter carries “a gene [ApoE4] variant associated with abnormal fat metabolism and an increased risk of Alzheimer's” (New Scientist) — he claims that he is already taking fat-lowering drugs to counteract its potential effect.

The Celera scientific advisory board were not impressed by his revelation — “[a]ny genome intended to be a landmark should be kept anonymous. It should be a map of all of us” (New Scientist).

Not content with having his DNA sequenced, Venter now intends to devote a whole book to it. He told The New York Times that he “will do a detailed examination of [his] genetic code and use that as a basis of writing [his] book on genomics”.

He also announced that he plans to set up two new institutes, one of which “will study issues of science policy like the genetic basis of race and stem cells”, whereas the other will work towards genetically engineering bacteria “to convert carbon dioxide into hydrogen, producing clean energy and averting greenhouse warming” (The New York Times).