| Type | Research Institute |
|---|---|
| Industry | Genomics |
| Founded | 1992, Rockville, Maryland, USA |
| Headquarters | Rockville, Maryland, United States of America |
| Key people | Claire M. Fraser |
| Products | Genome sequencing, research, software development. |
| Revenue | $60 Million USD (2005) |
| Employees | ~350 |
| Website | www.jcvi.org |
The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) was a non-profit genomics research institute founded in 1992 by Craig Venter in Rockville, Maryland, United States. It is now a part of the J. Craig Venter Institute.
TIGR were the first group, in 1995, to sequence a genome of a free-living organism, the bacterium Haemophilus influenzae. This landmark project, led by TIGR scientist Robert Fleischmann, led to an explosion of genome sequencing projects, all using the whole-genome sequencing technique pioneered earlier but never used for a whole bacterium until TIGR's project. TIGR scientist Claire Fraser led the projects to sequence the second bacterium, Mycoplasma genitalium in 1996, and less than a year later TIGR's Carol Bult led the project to sequence the first genome of an Archaeal species, Methanococcus jannaschii. TIGR followed these accomplishments with the genomes of the pathogenic bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi[1] (which causes Lyme Disease) in 1997, and Treponema pallidum (which causes syphilis) in 1998. In 1999 TIGR published the sequence of the radioresistant polyextremophile Deinococcus radiodurans.
TIGR went on to become the world's leading center for microbial genome sequencing, and it also participated in the Human Genome Project and many other genome projects. Its bioinformatics group developed many of the pioneering software algorithms that were used to analyze these genomes, including the automatic gene finder GLIMMER and the genome alignment program MUMmer.
Following the 2001 anthrax attacks, TIGR partnered with the National Science Foundation and the FBI to sequence the strain of Bacillus anthracis used in those attacks. The results of this analysis were published in the journal Science in 2002[2]. The genetic evidence was later credited by the FBI with helping to pinpoint the precise sample of anthrax bacteria, from a lab in Fort Detrick, Maryland, that was the source of the attacks.
In late 2006, TIGR became a division of the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI).[3] In March/April 2007 the divisions were dissolved and TIGR was absorbed under the JCVI name. After presiding over the organization for nearly 10 years Dr. Fraser (ex-wife of Craig Venter) resigned her position and left the organization on April 20, 2007.[4]