But Andrew Pelling, a Canadian ‘biohacker’, breaks convention in more ways than one.
The scientist bases his research on being inventive, and has recently published a paper explaining how apples can be used to grow human body parts.
Mr Pelling said staying creative with science is difficult. 'It takes a lot of work. I honestly believe that being unconventional and creative isn’t something that “just happens”,' he told MailOnline.
'We set up conditions to either foster and grow that spirit or conditions that kill it. So I surround myself with fascinating and energetic people, give myself and other permission to “play” and constantly ask myself if my plan/idea/decision etc could be even more audacious.
'This may not come naturally for all people, but if you try it, after a while it becomes easier and a more likely way for you to operate.
'And the end product is an ability to always be thinking in a way that is different from most, which means you come up with a lot of new and unusual ideas.
'Most of them fail though! But you have to at least try them. Every now and then some will work out and they are usually gold.'
Mr Pelling’s work is focused around the idea of using trash to find treasure.
He says playing around is how he trains his mind to remain unconventional.
‘It's not some creepy thing,’ said Mr Pelling, at a recent TED Talk. ‘I'm usually just looking for old electronics, stuff I can take to my workshop and hack.’
The 'mad scientist', as TED calls him, runs his own lab at Ottawa University, the Pelling Laboratory for Physical Manipulation.
One of the lab's latest projects involves creating 'human' ears out of cells taken from apples.
The ears cannot hear like those in a human, but are the same shape and contain human cells, or 'scaffolding'.
Pelling and his lab did not set about with the intention to grow ears from apples.
The idea stemmed from a conversation they had about Audrey II, the giant monster flytrap from the musical Little Shop of Horrors. They wondered whether they could grow the monster in the lab.
