Craig Venter died - well, today or yesterday roughly

[Dan Kolis]

Craig Venter — who led a race to decode the human genome, pioneered a genome-sequencing method still used today, created the first organisms with synthetic genomes and sailed around the world recording microbial diversity — died yesterday, aged 79. Venter is most well-known for leading a commercial effort to generate the first human genome sequence in the 1990s, racing against the US$3 billion global, publicly funded Human Genome Project. But Venter’s scientific legacy extended well beyond the ‘genome wars’, say scientists who knew, admired and competed with him. “He is a true pioneer and maverick who revolutionized genomics by enabling new sequencing methods and trying to create synthetic cells,” says Tae Seok Moon, a synthetic biologist at Venter’s research centre. “It's a huge loss for all genomics and synthetic biology researchers.”

Posted 30 Apr 2026