Geneticist’s Startup Hopes to Defeat Human Aging With World’s Largest Genome Library
6th March 2014
Geneticist J. Craig Venter, who has made headlines for his genomic research and helping develop what’s been called the first synthetic life form, is launching a new company with the goal of delaying aging and extending human lives. Human Longevity, Inc. is co-founded by Venter, biotechnologist and entrepreneur Robert Hariri, and Peter Diamandis, who founded the X Prize Foundation and more recently co-founded asteroid mining startup Planetary Resources. Its goal is to create the world’s most comprehensive human genome sequencing project, capturing and cross-referencing genetic information from a cross-section of people both sick and healthy — it hopes to sequence 40,000 human genomes a year, with an eventual goal of 100,000 annually.