Synthetic biology promised to rewrite life – with the death of its pioneer, J. Craig Venter, how close are scientists?
- Written by: André O. Hudson, Dean of the College of Science, Professor of Biochemistry, Rochester Institute of Technology
First came the Human Genome Project, then came the field of synthetic biology.Alena Butusava/iStock via Getty Images PlusWhen scientist J. Craig Venter and his team announced in 2010 that they had created the first cell controlled by a fully synthetic genome, it marked a turning point in how scientists think about life.
For the first time, DNA...

