In a remarkable show of solidarity, two of the key players held a joint, impromptu briefing on Tuesday and regaled journalists with comments of unprecedented warmth about one another. The end of hostility between Dr Craig Venter, from the privately funded company Celera Genomics, and Dr Francis Collins, from the publicly funded Human Genome Project, will fuel speculation that a deal has been done over a joint announcement of the completion of the human genome. The start of the year saw a very public row when a deal to share data fell through, but it could be that both parties have finally come to an arrangement to at least share credit for working on the greatest project in the history of science. He emphasised his company's co-operative work with public sector scientists, in particular the joint effort to decode the fruit fly genome finished earlier this year. Dr Collins and Dr Venter were said to have beamed at one another during the conference and then held an impromptu news briefing during a break to declare their dedication to co-operation.
Competition is a good thing.
It gets people going. He said the media had exaggerated the image of Celera and the Human Genome Project competing in a race. He said his team had nearly finished a first version of the genome sequence. Dr Collins noted, saying the US, UK, Japanese, German and other teams had worked on a ''rather amazing timetable''. Dr Venter also played down any suggestion that the two sides were at odds, saying that collaboration was almost inevitable.