Craig Venter has scorched a trail through genomics – cracking the human genome along the way – and now aims to synthesise life itself. Often a controversial figure, he explains why he chose to defy the scientific establishment and go it alone.
If you had to be known for only one achievement, what would it be?
My truly unequivocal first was the first genome derived from a living organism, the bacterium Haemophilus influenzae. Technologically, Haemophilus and the fruit fly Drosophila were the most important. After Drosophila, the human was obvious. But I will be remembered for the human genome, along…
