Tag

Synthetic Biology

All articles tagged with #synthetic biology

science6 days ago•13 min saved

SpudCell exposes how close we are to synthetic life—and how far we still are

Scientists announced on July 2, 2026 that they created SpudCell, the first synthetic cell built from purified, nonliving components. While it can feed, grow, replicate genetic material and undergo a cell-like division, it is not autonomous: it relies on laboratory conditions and ongoing input of molecular machinery, and it cannot reproduce indefinitely. The milestone helps researchers study core cellular processes—membranes, gene expression, energy use, and growth—while offering potential safe, simplified platforms for disease research, drug delivery, and environmental sensing. It also highlights ongoing debates about what constitutes life, and underscores the need for safety, governance, and ethical oversight in synthetic biology.

via The Conversation|

#bioethics #life-definition #science

science10 days ago•6 min saved

Lab-made synthetic cell completes its first division

Scientists built a non-living, liposome-based synthetic cell that completed a full division cycle—growing, duplicating its DNA, and splitting into two—by using membrane-targeting protein tags; a landmark in synthetic biology, though the cell relies on external ribosomes and materials to survive.

via Boing Boing|

#artificial-cells #cell-division #dna-replication

science12 days ago•5 min saved

SpudCell: Minnesota researchers unveil a near-life synthetic cell built from nonliving components

University of Minnesota researchers report the creation of SpudCell, a life-like synthetic cell assembled from nonliving components that can grow, replicate its DNA and divide under lab conditions, featuring a 90,000-base-pair genome. After five generations, only about 30% of daughter cells inherited the complete synthetic genome, underscoring current limits. Published as a bioRxiv preprint (not peer-reviewed), the work marks a milestone toward artificial life but the cells require external nutrients and strict lab conditions and are far from self-sustaining, prompting ongoing biosafety and biosecurity discussions.

via Fox News|

#artificial-life #biorxiv #science

science12 days ago•8 min saved

SpudCells Divide Briefly, Offering Clues About Minimal Life

A Minnesota team built a simplified, membrane-encased system that imports nutrients and uses viral components to copy DNA, creating 'SpudCells' that feed, grow, and undergo a few rounds of division before genome pieces drift and are lost; the division is driven by merging with a food membrane and pore-protein clumping, enabling natural selection in this engineered protocell—useful for studying origin-of-life questions but not a true primitive cell.

via Ars Technica|

#membrane #origin-of-life #protocell

science13 days ago•6 min saved

SpudCell: first synthetic cell built from non-living components completes a full life cycle

Scientists report creating SpudCell, the first synthetic cell assembled from non-living components that can grow, divide, and complete a life cycle using a 90-kilobase genome; while not yet peer‑reviewed and not truly self-sustaining or evolvable, the work provides a programmable chassis for future bioengineering and explorations of what defines life.

via ScienceAlert|

#bioengineering #life #science

science13 days ago•27 min saved

Lab-Built Droplet Signals Growth and Division, Nudging Synthetic Life Forward

University of Minnesota synthetic biologist Kate Adamala and team created SpudCell, a lab-made droplet of 150–200 molecules carrying a 36-gene, 90,000-base-pair genome that can feed, grow, copy DNA, and divide about every 12 hours at 30°C. However ribosomes degrade over time and only about 30% of instances retain the full genome after five divisions, and the system is not yet a living cell. The work led to Biotic, a new initiative with $10 million in seed funding to advance synthetic cell development, with potential future applications in cancer therapies, carbon capture, and chemical manufacturing.

via Ground News|

#artificial-life #biotechnology #cell-replication

science13 days ago•4 min saved

SpudCells demonstrate a complete synthetic-cell life cycle with lab-made DNA

Researchers built SpudCells—synthetic, non-living cells formed from chemical components and lab-made DNA—that grow, copy their genome, and divide in a nutrient-rich solution by fusing with feeder liposomes, marking the first demonstration of a complete synthetic-cell life cycle. While not alive and dependent on external chemicals, they offer a controllable chassis for testing biological circuits and could underpin future biotechnologies; the work appeared as a preprint and has spurred plans to form Biotic to advance the approach toward an 'operating system for life'.

via The Guardian|

#artificial-life #dna-replication #liposomes

science13 days ago•191 min saved

Researchers Build the First Synthetic Cell From Nonliving Chemistry

Scientists have built SpudCell, a synthetic cell assembled from nonliving chemical components that can feed, grow and replicate for about five generations; though far simpler than natural cells and requiring externally supplied ribosomes, the work marks a milestone in synthetic biology toward understanding life's origins and enabling future bioengineering, with safety safeguards discussed and the core technology to be shared openly via Biotic.

via CNN|

#biosafety #open-source-biology #origin-of-life

science13 days ago•56 min saved

SpudCell: the Open-Source Synthetic Cell That Feeds, Grows and Divides

Scientists at the University of Minnesota created SpudCell, a manmade, liposome-encased system that can feed, grow, reproduce and compete for nutrients using a 36-gene gene set derived from a virus and E. coli; though not fully alive, it shows key life‑like traits and can evolve in mixed cultures. Researchers aim to add ribosomes and longer-term self-replication, and they've launched Biotic—a nonprofit to foster open collaboration while addressing biosafety.

via The New York Times|

#minimal-genome #open-source #ribosome

science26 days ago•11 min saved

Cape Town researchers decode how cancer retools MUC1’s sugar cloak to dodge immunity

South African scientists at the University of Cape Town decoded how cancer rewires MUC1’s sugar coat, shifting from a protective shield to a cloak that blunts immune detection. By recreating the process in vitro and using quantum chemistry, they show tumor enzymes relocate from the Golgi to the endoplasmic reticulum to create aberrant Tn/sTn sugars, shaping a tumor-promoting microenvironment. Mapping this sugar code could inform cancer vaccines, biomarkers and therapies, pushing towards precision medicine.

via The Conversation|

#cancer #glycosylation #immune-evasion

science1 month ago•6 min saved

Rethinking the human genome: aiming for a minimal, learnable blueprint

A Nature World View piece argues that advances in DNA synthesis, genome assembly, and AI now make a synthetic human genome more feasible, but a shift in goals is needed: instead of pursuing an ultrasafe, full-genome rewrite, scientists should aim to define a minimal human genome to identify essential elements and gain deeper biological understanding, with growing funding interest (including a UK effort to build a fully synthetic human chromosome) signaling a real rethinking of the project’s scope.

via Nature|

#dna-synthesis #ethics #genome

science1 month ago•37 min saved

DNA Doodling: Enzymes Write Long DNA Strands Without Templates

Scientists have shown that DNA polymerases can generate long, patterned DNA without a template, producing tens of thousands of units by adjusting reaction conditions such as temperature and building-block availability. The output forms identifiable repeating patterns rather than random strings, suggesting a tunable pathway for long DNA synthesis with potential biotech applications, though researchers caution about error control and the uncertain behavior in living systems.

via Earth.com|

#biotechnology #dna #dna-doodling

technology2 months ago•38 min saved

Mirror Life: The Emergence of a Second Tree of Life and Its Global Risks

A Noema feature surveys the looming possibility of mirror life—an engineered, mirror‑image form of biology that could evade immune defenses and spread without containment. While experts say such life is years to decades away and not yet realized, a 299‑page report and high‑profile scientists are calling for governance, a precautionary moratorium, and changes in funding and publishing to prevent an existential biosafety crisis. The piece traces the science of chirality from Pasteur to DNA/RNA, explores potential therapeutic and material applications of mirror biomolecules, and examines the political and ethical debates about restricting research in the name of safety while not stifling innovation.

via Noema Magazine|

#biosecurity #chirality #governance

science2 months ago•12 min saved

Engineered microbes could redefine pollution cleanup

Synthetic biologists are engineering bacteria to digest pollutants—from oil and nitroaromatic compounds to plastics—aiming to turn waste into resources and cleanse air, water and soil, though safety concerns and funding hurdles still limit deployment.

via Nature|

#bioremediation #microbes #plastic-degradation

science2 months ago•5 min saved

MIT Scientist Uncovers Flexible Pathways in Ribosome Assembly

MIT biologist Joey Davis shows ribosome assembly is dynamic and can proceed via multiple pathways, not a fixed sequence. Using cryo-EM and the CryoDRGN neural-network approach, his work reveals diverse intermediate structures when assembly is blocked and aims to speed up data collection to improve AI-based protein-structure prediction.

via MIT News|

#cryo-em #cryodrgn #protein-synthesis