The American biologist, and entrepreneur, most famous for his role in sequencing one of the first human genomes lives here. Craig Venter has successful construction the first self-replicating, synthetic bacterial cell.
http://www.techcentral.co.za/craig-venter-on-the-first-synthetic-cell/14483/
http://www.jcvi.org/cms/press/press-releases/full-text/article/first-self-replicating-synthetic-bacterial-cell-constructed-by-j-craig-venter-institute-researcher/