09/18/2026
This October, we're bringing together many of the people who built modern genomics — and the ones carrying it forward.
The J. Craig Venter Memorial Symposium takes place October 13–14 at The US Grant Hotel in San Diego: two days celebrating Dr. Venter's life and science, chaired by Mark Adams, PhD, and Jack Gilbert, PhD.
Day one follows the arc of his career — the early work at UCSD and Buffalo, the TIGR years, Celera and the race to sequence the human genome, and on into personal genomics, precision medicine, and genomic policy.
Day two turns to what came next: synthetic genomics and the first synthetic cell, xenotransplantation, the Sorcerer II Global Ocean Expedition, genomic diversity, and women's health.
Nearly 30 speakers across 28 talks and panels, including George Church, Susan Taylor, Gene Myers, Jonathan Eisen, Sorin Istrail, Stephen W. Scherer, Pam Silver, Vanessa Hayes, and Kate Adamala — colleagues who worked alongside Dr. Venter across four decades, together with voices from the broader scientific community.
A gala follows on the evening of October 14 aboard the USS Midway — what would have been Dr. Venter's 80th birthday.
Whether you worked alongside him or simply followed the work, we'd be glad to have you there.
Register: https://jcvi.regfox.com/j-craig-venter-symposium
