He has done it again. J Craig Venter,
64, brilliant biologist and shrewd entrepreneur, can't seem to stay away from
the limelight for long. While the significance of his latest work –
creating an entire genome in the lab – is being assessed and debated by
scientists, the ambition and promise of the project has ensured that Venter
continues to make headlines.
That's nothing new for this Vietnam War
veteran who not so long ago was called the 'bad boy of science'. He had the
audacity to challenge the US scientific establishment by engaging it in a
much-hyped race to map the human genome. Venter actually 'won' the contest,
being the first to come out with the rough 'blueprint of life' sequenced through
a fast-track technique devised by him and carried out at his private company,
Celera Genomics.
He later patched up with the publicly-funded Human
Genome Project and jointly declared in 2000 that the genome had been sequenced.
But his radical ways ensured the project was completed at least three years
ahead of schedule. Yet another surprising aspect is revealed in his biography, A
Life Decoded. It says he was a terrible student in school.
