HOW TO CHEAT DEATH

J. Craig Venter, the man in the late 1990s who, frustrated by the slow progress of the government-funded Human Genome Project, launched an effort that sequenced human DNA two years earlier than planned (he was subsequently the first human to have his complete DNA sequenced). He hasn't slowed down since. Now he's back with his most ambitious project since his historic breakthrough 17 years ago. He's raised $300 million from investors including Celgene and GE Ventures for a new firm, Human Longevity, that's trying to take the DNA information he helped unlock and figure out how to leverage it to cheat death for years, or even decades. His DNA breakthrough was one of the great scientific accomplishments of the 20th century, yet he never won a Nobel Prize. Academics view him as someone interested in profits over science. Thus, Human Longevity offers Venter a last chance to square his legacy, awe the scientists and make billions in the process.