J. Craig Ventor, the man responsible for successfully mapping the human genome, is applying his significant brain
power to the area of alternative fuels. The geneticist is behind a new start-up called
Synthetic Genomics that plans to create new types of organisms capable of producing hydrogen and other bio-fuels.
Now that geneticists have gained the ability to read genetic code they are now taking the first steps toward authoring
new genetic code that has these practical applications.
Examples of hydrogen production in nature can be found all around in organisms like trees and grass where the
conversion of sunlight into energy is much more efficient than in a man-made device like a silicon solar panel. In the
future Ventor’s designer organism could be the organic factories that pump out our alternative fuels.