Craig Venter, an American genomics researcher and founder of Celera Corporation and the J.
Craig Venter Institute, died on April 29, 2026, at age 79 from complications from cancer. Venter, born John Craig Venter in Salt Lake City, Utah, led one of the first draft sequences of the human genome and headed the first team to transfect a cell with a synthetic chromosome.
He also founded the Institute for Genomic Research and was an American scientist and entrepreneur.
Craig Venter, 79, American genomics researcher, founder of Celera Corporation and JCVI, complications from cancer.