He is known for leading one of the first draft sequences of the human genome[1][2] and led the first team to transfect a cell with a synthetic chromosome.

[10]: 1–20  According to his biography, A Life Decoded, he was said never to be a terribly engaged student, having Cs and Ds on his eighth-grade report cards.

[10]: 1–20  Venter considered that his behavior in his adolescence was indicative of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and later found ADHD-linked genetic variants in his own DNA.

[16] Being confronted with severely injured and dying marines on a daily basis instilled in him a desire to study medicine,[17] although he later switched to biomedical research.

The goal consequently put pressure on the public genome program and spurred several groups to redouble their efforts to produce the full sequence.

[31][32] Despite some claims that shotgun sequencing was in some ways less accurate than the clone-by-clone method chosen by the Human Genome Project,[33] the technique became widely accepted by the scientific community.

Begun as a Sargasso Sea pilot sampling project in August 2003, the full Expedition was announced by Venter on March 4, 2004.

The project, which used Venter's personal yacht, Sorcerer II, started in Halifax, Canada, circumnavigated the globe and returned to the U.S. in January 2006.

[35] In June 2005, Venter co-founded Synthetic Genomics, a firm dedicated to using modified microorganisms to produce clean fuels and biochemicals.

In July 2009, ExxonMobil announced a $600 million collaboration with Synthetic Genomics to research and develop next-generation biofuels.

In April 2022 Venter sold the La Jolla JCVI facility to the University of California, San Diego for $25 million.

[49] Some of the sequences in Venter's genome are associated with wet earwax,[50] increased risk of antisocial behavior, Alzheimer's and cardiovascular diseases.

These variants include single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), block substitutions, short and large indels, and structural variations like insertions, deletions, inversions and copy number changes.

The interface also represents the haplotype blocks from which diploid genome sequence can be inferred and the relation of variants to gene annotations.

Users can then easily and quickly browse any genomic region via the simple and intuitive pan and zoom controls; furthermore, data relevant to specific loci can be exported for further analysis.

Allegations were made stating that Venter had departed with his company computer that contained valuable information that could be used to start a competing business.

[53] The lawsuit was ultimately dismissed by a California judge on the basis that Human Longevity were unable to present a case that met the legal threshold required for a company, or individual, to sue when its trade secrets have been stolen.

[72] Venter gave the Distinguished Public Lecture during the 2007 Michaelmas Term at the James Martin 21st Century School at Oxford University.

[73][74] Venter delivered the 2008 convocation speech for Faculty of Science honours and specialization students at the University of Alberta.

Number three in 2008's Top 10 Scientific Discoveries was a piece outlining his work stitching together the 582,000 base pairs necessary to invent the genetic information for a whole new bacterium.

He shared various anecdotes and advice, including stories of his time in Vietnam, as well as mentioning a bout with melanoma on his back, which subsequently resulted in his "giving a pound of flesh" to surgery.

[80][81] In May 2017, Venter was the guest of honor and keynote speaker at the inauguration ceremony of the Center for Systems Biology Dresden.