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

People still do not understand how a lab works, how sequencing a complete genome still remains a very, time, energy, memory, staff consuming activity.

FORBES: So Much Hype, So Little Substance

This is the first time that an insurer is known to have agreed to pay for the sequencing of an entire human genome.

FORBES: Sequencing A Child's DNA -- And Convincing An Insurance Company To Pay

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

Sequencing the mitochondrial genomes of these 39 remains revealed dynamic changes in DNA patterns over time.

BBC: Making of Europe unlocked by DNA

Dr Venter was working out his frustrations after having been fired in 2002 from Celera Genomics, a company he helped set up in 1998 with the specific aim of sequencing the human genome faster and better than the public Human Genome Project was managing at the time.

ECONOMIST: A new domain of life

Dutch researchers are proposing that DNA sequencing replace older forms of genetic tests for diagnosing the cause of severe intellectual disability, the second time in a day that researchers have pushed the emerging technology as a first-choice diagnostic test for severe illness.

FORBES: DNA Sequencing: Is Science Fiction Becoming Medical Fact?