The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) is a non-profit research institute located in Rockville, Maryland. The primary interest of TIGR is the sequencing of the genomes and the subsequent analysis of the sequences in prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms. J. Craig Venter founded TIGR in 1992 and acted as president until 1998. As of 2002, Venter remained as chairman of the board of trustees for TIGR.

TIGR scientists sequenced the genomes of a number of viruses, bacteria, archaebacteria, plants, animals, fungi, and protozoa. The sequences of the bacteria Haemophilus influenzae and Mycoplasma genitalium, published in 1996, were the first complete bacterial DNA sequences ever accomplished. In 1996, the complete sequence of an archaebacteria (Methanococcus jannaschii) was published. Since that time, TIGR has sequenced 19 other bacterial genomes. These include the genomes of the bacteria that cause cholera, tuberculosis, meningitis, syphilis, Lyme disease, and stomach ulcers...