J. Craig Venter, who was scheduled to deliver the 10th annual Takeru Higuchi lecture in December until it was canceled because of bad weather, will deliver the lecture Thursday.

Venter is the founder of Celera Genomics and was key in mapping the human genome in 2001. In fact, his DNA was mapped at that time. He now operates his own J. Craig Venter Institute, which is dedicated to research related to genomics.

Val Stella, Kansas University professor of pharmaceutical chemistry, said getting a speaker of Venter’s stature is always a challenge, and this time was made doubly tough by needing to re-establish a previous engagement.

“He was very embarrassed that he had to cancel because of the weather,” Stella said. “He made an effort to reschedule us in a very, very tight schedule.”

Aside from speaking, Venter stays busy by traveling the world in his yacht looking for examples of biodiversity and genetic mutations, Stella said.

“He’s trying to understand the relationship of genomic mutation and evolution, and then tying everything back together through a DNA analysis rather than an anthropological analysis,” Stella said.

Venter is also promoting a book he recently wrote. While at KU, Venter will deliver two lectures and speak to groups of faculty and students, including a group of KU Cancer Center researchers.

His main lecture will be 5:30 p.m. Thursday in the Kansas Union’s Woodruff Auditorium. The lecture is free and open to the public.

“Not only is he going to be interesting, he’s also the sort of individual who can be inspiring to students as well as faculty,” Stella said.