What happened
Scientists at the University of Minnesota Wednesday announced that they created synthetic cells from non-living chemicals that can perform many of the functions of living cells, like feeding, growing, dividing and replicating their genetic material. Lead researcher Kate Adamala said she named them SpudCells after Sputnik but also “because I’m mostly made of potatoes.” Her team said they are the “first synthetic cell with a complete cell cycle.”
Who said what
The SpudCell is a “major step” toward “discovering the alchemy by which chemicals can be turned into life,” The New York Times said. With just 36 genes, it’s a “limited and fragile prototype,” CNN said, “but it could help scientists better understand the origins of life” and potentially solve “human problems” like “new cancer treatments and novel ways to capture carbon or manufacture chemicals.” The SpudCell could also “challenge our preconceived notions of what’s considered ‘life,’” said Futurism.
“We’re going to remember this moment,” said computational cell biologist Roseanna Zia, who wasn’t involved in the research, per the Times. The “shake-the-ground accomplishment here” was the ability of SpudCells to compete with each other, leading to more sophisticated progeny.
What next?
While Adamala’s research undergoes peer review, she and three colleagues created a public-benefit institution to disseminate the SpudCell “recipe” and collaborate with scientists worldwide to improve and utilize the breakthrough.
Scientists have built a cell from scratch for the first time
