The pioneering scientist who created the world’s first synthetic cells said he envisions a world in which man-made algae will be used to produce oil, drug makers will make synthetic flu vaccines, and doctors will repair damaged organs with stem cells.

“Using stem cells as a potential to get new cells and repair damage and replace parts is hopefully going to be part of the future,” maverick biologist and billionaire J. Craig Venter, 64, told the Tribune-Review.

On Thursday, Venter, a Ph.D biologist from the University of California-San Diego also known for his work in deciphering the human genetic code, received the Dickson Prize in Medicine — the most prestigious honor granted by the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

The award, presented annually to a leading American biomedical researcher, came on the opening day of Pitt’s Science 2011 showcase, which concludes today.

Venter “is known and admired for his life driven by determination to take the next big step,” Chancellor Mark Nordenberg told nearly 1,000 people gathered at Alumni Hall in Oakland.

Nordenberg compared Venter’s bold vision to that of Steve Jobs, Apple’s co-founder who died Wednesday. Twelve prior winners of the Dickson prize, named for Joseph and Agnes Fischer Dickson, went on to receive the Nobel Prize.

In February 2001, Venter published the first completely mapped human genome. His most recent achievement, announced in 2010, involved using a computer code to artificially reproduce in a laboratory the DNA of the world’s smallest bacteria. Venter and his team stripped bacteria cells of their original DNA and injected them with man-made DNA. The cells then grew and divided.

“Making the first synthetic cell was a proof of concept to show that we can start with a genetic code in the computer, make the DNA software and boot that up in a cell to get a whole new cell,” Venter said in the Trib interview. He heads the J. Craig Venter Institute, a nonprofit research facility in Rockville, Va., and two companies, Synthetic Genomics and Synthetic Genomics Vaccines.

At the award ceremony, Venter said he expects genetics companies will someday pay people for the right to sequence their genome.

“Your data and genotype will become a very valuable commodity for understanding medicine,” he said.

Jeremy Berg, Pitt’s associate vice chancellor for science strategy and planning, described Venter as a bold thinker whose controversial ideas will ultimately change the understanding of life.

“The idea of creating life from scratch is not without controversy,” Berg said. “Some people view it as a Pandora’s box that you might not want to open, but it’s open and I think his view is it’s going to be open whether he did it or not. It’s a question of continuing to develop the technology and developing with it appropriate regulations…”

Venter, who travels in a 95-foot yacht to collect and sequence the genes of ocean life forms, told the Trib he wants to change the understanding of the world.

“I have a pretty cool job,” he said. “I get paid to ask questions about the world and make discoveries that affect people’s lives. Even though in a couple of weeks I turn 65, I feel like I’m in the middle phase of my career.”

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