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Craig Venter - Agenda Setters 2009

Name: Craig Venter

Title: Father of genomics

Position: 25 Last year: Not ranked

Why? Sequencing the human genome and being at the cutting edge of biotechnology

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Craig Venter is an American scientist colloquially known as the father of genomics.

Venter's pioneering work in the field of genomics includes developing a technique for enabling genes to be rapidly identified (so-called ESTs); decoding the genome of the first free-living organism (a bacterium); and founding a business to sequence the human genome. The successful completion of this project led to the publication of the human genome in a scientific journal in 2001.

Venter has also founded, and is chairman and president, of the not-for-profit J Craig Venter Institute - which employs hundreds of scientists in ongoing genomics research. Current projects to bio-engineer a sustainable energy solution were flagged for particular praise by one Agenda Setters judge.

While the judges noted Venter's huge achievement in the sequencing of the human genome - "breaking the code of life, and rebuilding it synthetically " - they were also excited by the potential impact of his work on technology.

One panellist said he is likely to do the most to further "the vision of bio-computing", while another anticipated him "delivering the next leap in processing technology" - suggesting Venter's greatest achievements may yet lie ahead of him. As a third judge put it, he is: "A serial applied tech entrepreneur who positions and drives ahead of the curve at the tech/bio-systems leading edge."