House of Paine

j craig has a new move...

 Venter unsinkable???


you fuckin better believe it ....



========================================




"J. Craig Venter, maverick biologist,
 wants to cure our addiction to oil "

" he proposes creating a designer microbe 
-- the heart of a biological engine -- from scratch
 then adding genes culled from the sea 
to turn crops such as switch grass 
and cornstalks into ethanol"



Venter:

"We are on a crusade 
as much as it is an economic goal," 
 "This is one of those crusades
 that only works 
if it becomes really profitable."

 his biggest backer:

"Yes, Craig confronts," said 


"Alfonso Romo Garza
 a Mexican billionaire
 controller of a decent chunk
 of the world's commercial vegetable seeds"
himself on mr V :

"Of course, he's antagonistic.
 He's controversial.
 But I love controversial people
 because those are the people
 who change the world."

 j CRAIG UPDATE:

"Bearded from a three-year,
 Darwinesque yacht trip around the world,
 Venter also now sports 
an extensive collection 
of genetic material scooped from the sea 
on his journey -- 
and that's the raw material 
for his alternative fuel project.

initial stake:

" $15 million from Garza,
 he has launched a new company
 in Rockville called Synthetic Genomics Inc."

bizz wizz ???

"Venter's business career made him rich
 but his record running Celera Genomics Corp.
 was spotty"


mr v:

"I started Celera because
 I wanted to map the human genome," 
 "It's different now.
 We actually do have a great idea 
             for a business."



 
" Venter loves the challenge. 
The formation of the new company 
solidifies ideas he has been investigating
 for several years 
through his various research foundations 
in Rockville.
 The Venter Institute 
and 
the Institute for Genomic Research 
have received several 
Energy Department grants ...."

hiring coup:

"..Aristides Patrinos,
 who directed the Energy Department's
 biological and environmental research 
and launched its efforts to solve 
energy and environmental problems
 using microbes"


why???

" Patrinos led the federally funded Human Genome Project,
 which raced Venter to decode human DNA "


new funding MO: 


"Venter has  avoided taking venture capital money 
in order to maintain tight control,
 something he didn't have at Celera,
 where he was ultimately fired "

"At this point, 
Synthetic Genomics is a virtual company,
 housed at the sprawling Rockville headquarters
 that is home to Venter's institutes"

and 

".. mostly using Venter's existing research staff"

but sez Venter :

"... a significant ramp-up soon
.... talks with major energy firms ...
                     now in discussions 
                        with several companies"


 ethanol.

.

"Patrinos thinks Synthetic Genomics 
can reduce costs ... by using either 
a soup of microbes 
or genetically designed ones 
to perform, 
in essentially one place,
 all of the biological functions
 needed to break down 
the plant material 
and turn it into ethanol"

 mr P himmself:

"Anytime you add steps, you add costs,"  
"The ideal situation would essentially 
just be one big vat,
 where in one place 
you just stick the raw material
 -- it could be switch grass -- 
and out the other end 
comes fuel that you could drive 
 to the gas station."

but keep your shirt on... 

"This will not happen tomorrow".

" Venter's scientists 
will need at least several years 
to sift through the millions of organisms
 he collected on his around-the-world yacht trip,
 which ended last month " 



"The hope is that something 
in that menagerie will provide 
the key to more efficient energy"


mr V  sums up :

"Sometimes you get a new idea 
that is better than the old idea," 
 "It wouldn't be the first time 
I've done that."