Genomics trailblazer Venter passes away

J. Craig Venter, the genomics pioneer and serial biotech entrepreneur who won the race to sequence the human genome and helped launch the field of synthetic biology, passed away this week at 79. The cause was side effects his treatment for a recently diagnosed cancer.

“Craig believed that science moves forward when people are willing to think differently, move decisively, and build what doesn’t yet exist,” Anders Dale, president of The J. Craig Venter Institute, said in a tribute posted to JCVI’s website. “His leadership and vision reshaped genomics and helped ignite synthetic biology. ...