Celera Corporation
Celera Genomics was established in May 1998 by the PE Corporation (now Applera Corporation) and Dr. J. Craig Venter, Ph.D., a leading genomic scientist and founder of The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR). While at TIGR, Dr. Venter led the first successful effort to sequence an entire organism's genome, that of the H. influenzae bacterium. Deriving its name from the latin word for swiftness, Celera was formed for the purpose of generating and commercializing genomic information to accelerate the understanding of biological processes.
Celera Genomics researchers were among the first to show the reliability of the whole genome shotgun strategy for sequencing both prokaryotic and eukaryotic genomes. This is in contrast with the public domain initiatives, such as the Human Genome Project, which were based on a slower but safer clone by clone sequencing strategy. However, some researchers have expressed doubts about the overall quality of Celera's genome sequences.