Craig Venter Wants To Extend Your Life (And Own Your Data)

27 Mar 2014

• By Paul Bonanos

The onetime Celera CEO says his new attempt to centralize biological information into a massive database could lead to breakthroughs that extend the human life span. Behind that bold goal is a more mundane data-licensing strategy that, although not splashy, could still improve medicine.

Pioneering biologist Craig Venter, PhD, has made a career of pursuing ambitious projects, including his private endeavor to sequence the human genome and a stab at synthetic biology that could include a patented life form. Now with Human Longevity Inc., Venter and colleagues want to build the world’s largest genotypic and phenotypic database, with a stated goal of studying human life extension.

Venter unveiled the project in early March, revealing $70 million in private funding and a plan to sequence up to...