The next step after reading genetic code is writing it. In June, biotech pioneers J. Craig Venter and Hamilton Smith launched Synthetic Genomics, a Rockville, MD-based "synthetic biology" startup aimed at creating custom-made micro-organisms. The new company's president is Juan Enriquez, former director of Harvard Business School's Life Sciences Project and CEO of the Wellesley, MA, investment partnership Biotechonomy, which funds Synthetic Genomics.

How is what you're doing different from conventional genetic engineering?
Genetic engineering mostly has been about taking a few genes, shooting them at random at cells, and seeing if anything sticks. What we're doing is very different -- synthesizing entirely new DNA strands with the aim of controlling a particular life function. We then insert those into cells and have them execute that function.