Harvard Scientists’ Discovery Opens Door to Synthetic Life

By John Lauerman

March 7 (Bloomberg) -- Harvard University scientists are a step closer to creating synthetic forms of life, part of a drive to design man-made organisms that may one day be used to help produce new fuels and create biotechnology drugs.

Researchers led by George Church, whose findings helped spur the U.S. human genome project in the 1980s, have copied the part of a living cell that makes proteins, the building blocks of life. The finding overcomes a major roadblock in making synthetic self-replicating organisms, Church said today in a lecture at Harvard in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The technology can be used to program cells to make virtually any protein, even some that don’t exist in nature, the scientists said. That may allow production of helpful new drugs, chemicals and organisms, including living bacteria. It also opens the door to ethical concerns about creation of processes that may be uncontrollable by life’s natural defenses.

“It’s the key component to making synthetic life,” Church said yesterday in a telephone call with reporters. “We haven’t made synthetic life and it’s not our primary goal, but this is a huge milestone in that direction.”

more:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601124&sid=aWNwdtOMONZ8&refer=home

As the tools of synthetic biology become easier to use, bioterrorists and criminals may attempt to exploit them, he said. Well-meaning scientists might also release potentially deadly organisms and chemicals into the environment.

I can see the first point being a valid concern. However, the second point... Those are probably the same people who are freaking out about the LHC creating a black hole that devours the Earth. :eyes:

Either way, this is pretty neat. Think of all the stuff you could do with this! I wonder how long it would take to figure out how to make a multicelled organism. Why you'd want to make one, lord only knows but it's an interesting question to ponder.

>> As the tools of synthetic biology become easier to use, bioterrorists and
>> criminals may attempt to exploit them, he said. Well-meaning scientists
>> might also release potentially deadly organisms and chemicals into the
>> environment.
>
> I can see the first point being a valid concern. However, the second
> point... Those are probably the same people who are freaking out about
> the LHC creating a black hole that devours the Earth.

More likely to be reflecting the concerns over GMOs - the ones that have been
proven to contaminate non-GM crops despite the "assurances" from "well-meaning
scientists" that everything would be OK.

IMO, the risk of the "bioterrorists and criminals" is vastly over-rated and
the risk of "release" is far higher.
:shrug: