Genome pioneer J. Craig Venter in Melbourne.

Genome pioneer J. Craig Venter in Melbourne. Photo: Jason South

HE HAS been described as ''biology's bad boy'' but as far as renowned American scientist J. Craig Venter is concerned he is just breaking new ground. If other scientists want to follow him, as many do, then they are welcome to.

As for the controversial tag that is sometimes attached to his name, he wears it as a badge of honour.

''Anybody that is pushing the forefront of science is considered controversial,'' he said in Melbourne yesterday. ''Science by nature is very conservative, but the only way you move boundaries and make new discoveries is by trying new approaches.''

Among his goals is to sequence all the genes on the planet and to be the first to create artificial life by manufacturing DNA in the laboratory. He has a track record that leaves few doubting his capability.

In 1995 Dr Venter and his team decoded the genome of the first free-living organism, a bacterium called Haemophilus influenzae. In 2001 he and his team sequenced the human genome and have since sequenced the genome of the fruit fly, rat and mouse.

Dr Venter has also sequenced his own DNA, one of only 12 people in the world to sequence their genome, and was the first to sequence a dog's genome - that of his pet poodle, Shadow.

''But one day there will be millions to join my club,'' he said.

In Melbourne to deliver a free public lecture tonight, Dr Venter is considered a pioneer in the field of synthetic biology - where DNA is made in the laboratory, effectively creating artificial life. But ethical, moral and legal questions about public access to scientific discoveries and private profit dog his work.

On the contentious issue of patenting genes - the topic of a Senate inquiry due to conclude in June - Dr Venter admits it is ''a fight over who makes money off the genome''. But he says he has no problem with the practice. ''If it leads to a new therapeutic [treatments] or helping to understand new diseases then it's worth doing,'' he said.

It is the draw of the unknown that makes science so attractive to Dr Venter, who has appeared on Time magazine's list of the world's most influential people more than once.

Scientists do not know how many genes there are on the planet but they have discovered well over 20 million in the past eight years. That number is rising, thanks to another project of Dr Venter's, the ''voyage of microbial discovery'' on the yacht the Sorcerer II, which is sailing the world's oceans sampling and sequencing micro-organisms.

It's the new frontier - one naturalist Charles Darwin couldn't have imagined.

''It's a whole new way to look at life,'' Dr Venter said. ''Almost everything Darwin categorised was what he could see with his eyes and with crude microscopes. But we're now using the genetic code to see what's there in the invisible world, and it turns out the invisible world is far greater than the visible world.''

Dr Venter will be awarded a Doctor of Science honoris causa by Melbourne University tomorrow.

Dr Venter will deliver a free public lecture tonight at the Melbourne Convention Centre. Register at www.ict4lifesciences.org.au.