Synthetic Life

Last week Craig Venter announced the creation of "synthetic life." He boasts that he has created a living cell out of non-living components. If this were accurate, the story should have gotten a great deal more attention than it actually did. What Dr. Venter (of Human Genome Project fame and fortune) has accomplished is the creation of a bacterial chromosome from scratch and its insertion into another bacterial cell. The DNA that was synthesized is a near exact copy of one from an existing bacteria. Other scientists are nearly unanimous in declaring the feat remarkable, and far short of creating life. Scientists simply don't know enough (yet) to design a genome from scratch that would create a viable living cell.

so the story is pretty much a non-story except to those who follow this kind of thing closely. But it won't be too long (years, decades?) before a similar story comes along which is true. "Synthetic Biology" is being actively pursued in both the public and private sector. Grad students are getting degrees in this field. As usual, public debate lags far behind. Not just on the potential dangers and benefits of such organisms, but what we actually mean by "alive." Perhaps its time to pop some popcorn and dust off a copy of "Frankenstein."