Craig Venter is going to make synthetic life. Prepare yourself.
Craig Venter is pushing the boundaries of what humans can do with DNA and aims to create new life to serve our needs. At TEDMED this past year, he discussed what he and his company, Synthetic Genomics, have accomplished by analyzing and manipulating the genes of simple organisms. While the presentation was titled “What could we do with synthetic life?” it would have been more apt to call it “What we have done so far is going to blow your freakin’ mind.” Venter gives an in depth look at the methods which will lead to custom made organisms. Biofuel, new antibiotics, vaccines – Venter could one day make them all by using yeast and bacteria to reproduce artificially constructed genomes. As many have said, synthetic biology is likely to be the defining technology of the 21st century, and Venter plans on helping to write that definition. Check out his TEDMED video, in its entirety, after the break.
Now for the bad news. You’ve got competition. Some of the best scientists across the globe are chasing the holy grail of biology, and they’re making some serious headway. The prospect of man-made life is becoming less a question of if, and more a question of when. But can gene engineering really save the world? Can it destroy it?
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