Research scientist J. Craig Venter, whose work helped define modern genomics and launched the field of synthetic biology, died in San Diego after recently being diagnosed with cancer. He was 79.
The J. Craig Venter Institute, which is based in La Jolla and Rockville, Maryland, announced the institute’s founder, board chair and chief executive officer’s passing on Wednesday. Venter died following a brief hospitalization for unexpected side-effects that arose from cancer treatment, according to the institute.
Venter helped move genomics from slow, gene-by-gene discovery to scalable, data-driven science — and demonstrated that genomes could be designed and constructed.
In the field of synthetic biology, Venter and his teams constructed the first self-replicating bacterial cell controlled by a chemically synthesized genome. It was proof that genomes could be designed digitally, built from chemical components and “booted up” to run a living cell, according to JCVI…