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Dr. J. Craig Venter was a pioneer in modern genetics research. In the late 1990s, he led Celera Genomics’ project to sequence the human genome, which was published jointly with the public Human Genome Project in 2001. He continued his work in genetics after that, including expeditions to genetically sample the world’s oceans, and research into synthetic biology. In 2016, he and collaborators published research on creating a “minimal” synthetic cell, a living organism that required just 473 genes to operate.
Science Friday awarded Dr. Venter the Science Friday Accelerator Prize in recognition of his innovations in 2016. In the wake of his death, we’re revisiting a conversation from 2013 when he joined Ira on the show to discuss the future of synthetic biology. He died on April 29, 2026, at the age of 79.
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Flora Lichtman is a host of Science Friday. In a previous life, she lived on a research ship where apertivi were served on the top deck, hoisted there via pulley by the ship’s chef.
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