Last January, TIGR head Claire Fraser graced the cover of Genome Technology. Inside, Fraser talked about how the institute had evolved over its decade-long existence into a microbial sequencing powerhouse. Since then, hubby Craig Venter started three new institutes to go along with the TIGR family and announced plans to turn TIGR’s sequencing facility into a high-quality closure workshop. (See last month’s GT for more on Venter’s vision.)
Also in last year’s issue: execs from Genaissance, Orchid, and Variagenics shared their know-how on setting up a large-scale SNP shop. Since then, though, the SNP scene has gotten significantly smaller. Genaissance cut 20 percent of its staff and appointed a new CEO, Orchid put its SNP instrument biz on the block, and Hyseq merged with the struggling Variagenics for its cash (see p. 19).