Synthetic Life

I have seen the future, and it is now. Those words came to mind again as I recently listened to Craig Venter, one of those leading the new areas of synthetic genomics and synthetic biology.

In this video, Craig Venter talks about creating synthetic life and his groundbreaking work helping to create it.

Mackenzie Cowell is one of a group of amateurs exploring the techniques of synthetic biology which applies the tools and methodologies of engineering and computer science to the field of biology.

Scientists in Seattle have made a major breakthrough in designing computer-aided design systems to allow them to build artificial life forms.

What are the bare essentials of life, the indispensable ingredients required to produce a cell that can survive on its own? Can we describe the molecular anatomy of a cell, and understand how an entire organism functions as a system?

In a warehouse building in Boston, wedged between a cruise-ship drydock and Au Bon Pain's corporate headquarters, sits Ginkgo BioWorks, a new synthetic-biology startup that aims to make biological engineering easier than baking bread. Founded by five MIT scientists, the company offers to assemble biological parts--such as strings of specific genes--for industry and academic scientists.

Having trouble discovering extraterrestrial life? Then you might consider evolving your own.

Meet Biological Engineer Drew Endy of Stanford University, who is on the forefront of the new science of synthetic biology.

Genetic engineering is beginning to live up to its name. Over the past 30 years it has meant transferring existing genes, one at a time, between organisms. Now – under the banner of “synthetic biology” – scientists are using the principles of systems engineering to transform whole organisms and potentially even to create novel forms of life.

Richard Hollingham investigates the practical and moral questions raised by synthetic biology.

Lionhead Studios' Peter Molyneux has shown off a game character that recognizes and responds to a player's mood. The human interaction system is possible with Natal, a system being developed for the Xbox 360. It monitors and reacts precisely to the player's movements and the way they talk. Microsoft demonstrated Natal at the start of the E3 gaming conference in Los Angeles.

In Massachusetts, a young woman makes genetically modified E. coli in a closet she converted into a home lab. A part-time DJ in Berkeley, Calif., works in his attic to cultivate viruses extracted from sewage. In Seattle, a grad-school dropout wants to breed algae in a personal biology lab.

Early applications of synthetic biology may be adequately addressed by the existing regulatory framework for biotechnology, but further advances in this emerging field are likely to create much greater challenges for the U.S. government, according to a new report authored by Michael Rodemeyer of the University of Virginia.

In addition to providing a simple and much less expensive means of making artemisinin, the most powerful anti-malaria drug in use today, synthetic biology can also help to extend the effectiveness of this drug.

Researchers in the field of synthetic biology are still a long way from being able to assemble living cells from scratch in the laboratory. But according to biochemist David Deamer of the University of California, Santa Cruz, their efforts are yielding clues to the mystery of how life began on Earth.