John Craig Venter, Scientist Who Decoded Human Genome, Dies

John Craig Venter, the American scientist who played a pivotal role in sequencing the human genome, has died from unexpected side effects of cancer treatment, according to the J. Craig Venter Institute that bears his name. The institute announced that Venter had been diagnosed with cancer only recently. Venter was a pioneering figure in genomics research who led efforts to decode human DNA in the early 2000s through his private company Celera Genomics, competing with the publicly funded Human Genome Project. In 2010, his team achieved another scientific milestone by creating the first self-replicating bacterial cell with a synthetic genome, marking a breakthrough in synthetic biology and demonstrating the possibility of creating artificial life forms.