World renowned biologist J. Craig Venter will speak about genetics during this year's President Lecture, scheduled to take place Monday, March 10 at 4:30 p.m. in the ASEAN Auditorium.
Assistant Director of Public Relations Katie Cinnamond told the Daily in an email that Venter will present "Life at the Speed of Light," a discussion on how far and fast the science of genomics has come, followed by a brief question and answer period with the audience.
University President Anthony Monaco explained that he personally asked Venter to deliver the President's Lecture because of his unique role in the field of synthetic biology.
"[Venter's] appearance here at Tufts is especially timely in light of his announcement earlier this week that he will be starting a new company that will focus on developing genomics-based approaches to slow aging and related disease," Monaco told the Daily in an email. "I have great respect for Dr. Venter's scientific accomplishments, and [I] am sure he will offer a thought-provoking perspective on the outlook for genomics, which has such great potential to improve human health."
According to Associate Professor of Biology Mitch McVey, Venter is a pioneer in the fields of genomics and synthetic biology.
"He has certainly pushed the field forward faster than it would have been ... if it were not for his efforts," McVey said. "His idea to shotgun DNA sequencing to sequence the genome actually complemented what the public consortium was trying to do. It basically allowed us to complete the sequencing of the human genome much faster than it would have been otherwise."
Melissa White, a biology major who is currently enrolled in Molecular Biology, learned that Venter was delivering the President's Lecture after reading a Feb. 26 announcement from Student Services.
"It was really exciting because Craig Venter is a really influential molecular biologist, and it's ... cool that someone so influential in that field is coming to speak at Tufts," White, a junior, said. "I'm in a molecular biology class ... We learned a lot about DNA, and Craig Venter was one of the first few people to sequence the human genome."
According to a press release from the Tufts University Office of Public Relations, Venter is the founder, chairman and CEO of the J. Craig Venter Institute, a non-profit research organization that explores social and ethical issues in genomics. He is also the founder and CEO of Synthetic Genomics, Inc., a private company that seeks to address global energy, food and health needs through genomic-driven solutions.
According to White, Venter's book, "Life at the Speed of Light: From the Double Helix to the Dawn of Digital Life," is about Venter's work in creating artificial organisms. McVey said that Venter's research and work in DNA sequencing and genomic research is truly groundbreaking.
"Just in the past year he has been big in trying to synthesize genomes of organisms so that he can basically create free-living organisms," McVey said. "So basically, what he did was he created a genome from scratch ... he synthesized it chemically ... and he's really pushing synthetic biology forward, trying to create synthetic organisms."
According to the Office of Special Events, while tickets for the President's Lecture have sold out, the event will be recorded and posted at a later time on Office of the President's website.
