Hype in Genes

Gene celeb Craig Venter is making new breakthroughs at a new institute. Let's hope it doesn't end up like his last one.

J Craig Venter secured his place in the scientific firmament seven years ago when he nearly outran the U.S. government in the race to map the human genome. He's aiming impossibly high again, making big headlines for transplanting the entire genome of one species of bacterium into another. It was hailed by several scientists as a step toward producing the first man-made organism that, according to Venter, could as soon as five years from now help solve global warming by reducing our reliance on fossil fuels.

Venter's transplanting trick was another wow moment at his 500-person gene machine, which goes by an easy-to-remember name, the J. Craig Venter Institute. Its $200 million in assets is funded in part by gains from his biotech business ventures. Venter, 60, is one of the two most mentioned researchers in a recent textbook on recombinant DNA.

Being the Bono of genetics allows him to fund audacious ideas that might otherwise be starved...