{"text":[[{"start":7.7,"text":"Scientists have unveiled synthetic cells aimed at revolutionising industrial production by serving as tiny biological factories to make environmentally friendly materials for goods from drugs to plastics."}],[{"start":19.9,"text":"The new invention known as SpudCell will be made available to researchers around the world, as part of an expanding effort to put micro-scale bioengineering at the heart of lower-carbon manufacturing for everyday items.SpudCell is the first synthetic system to achieve a complete cell cycle of feeding, growth and reproduction, according to a paper released on Wednesday but not yet peer-reviewed. It is built from the bottom up using known non-living chemical components, as opposed to previous methods based on pared-down living cells and their naturally occurring parts."}],[{"start":54.4,"text":"The discovery highlights how progress in synthetic biology is opening dramatic new possibilities for turning cells from existing life forms and human-made variations on them into miniature workshops. The advances have intensified debate over how the powerful technologies should be owned and regulated, particularly if it one day becomes possible to make living organisms in laboratories.Bioengineered microbes are already used as miniature factories to make products such as insulin and biodegradable plastics. The consultancy McKinsey estimated in 2023 that 400 use cases of bioengineering more widely, almost all of them scientifically feasible, could have an annual economic impact of $2tn to $4tn from 2030 to 2040."}],[{"start":103.05,"text":"“We need to be able to manufacture things in a way that doesn’t harm the planet and in a way that’s actually renewable,” said Kate Adamala, leader of the SpudCell project and a University of Minnesota scientist. “We have enough atoms on this planet. We just need to move those atoms in a way that’s more sustainable — and also politically more decentralised.”"}],[{"start":122.55,"text":"“This is the first time the full cycle of a living cell has been run in a system that was built, not born — assembled from scratch rather than scaled down from something already alive,” the researchers said, noting that SpudCells could in principle be custom-built to make a variety of products. “This work opens up entire fields, and could ultimately underlie new therapeutics, materials, foods and approaches to carbon removal in the long-term future.”"}],[{"start":147.5,"text":"SpudCell still had several areas of scope for improvement, the scientists said. These include reducing its dependence on external food sources, increasing the sophistication of its reproduction mechanisms and building its own capacity to manufacture proteins."}],[{"start":162.45,"text":"The patent to SpudCell is owned by the University of Minnesota and exclusively licensed to Biotic, a US-based non-profit organisation with the stated aim of promoting the collaborative building of vital synthetic cell infrastructure. The researchers compare Biotic’s ambition to how the Human Genome Project was aimed at ensuring a “critical piece of human heritage” should “become a common scientific tool”."}],[{"start":187.64999999999998,"text":"The SpudCell work “opens the door to being able to have a simple system that can be asked to produce specific things at scale”, said Roseanna Zia, a University of Missouri engineering professor and expert on the modelling of biological cells. "}],[{"start":202.89999999999998,"text":"Efforts by Biotic and other researchers could help ensure synthetic cell technology was not “locked up in patents that would allow only big companies to take advantage”, said John Glass, leader of the synthetic biology group at the J Craig Venter Institute."}],[{"start":218.74999999999997,"text":"“I think synthetic biology and synthetic cells can go a long way towards solving many of the world’s economic, medical, environmental and industrial problems,” Glass said. “Open-source or some version of open-source technology is the best way to make this happen.”"}],[{"start":235.84999999999997,"text":"Advances in bioengineering have stoked concerns about the potential for technologies to cause harm to living organisms, either through accidental leaks or deliberate targeting. "}],[{"start":245.69999999999996,"text":"SpudCell cannot survive outside controlled laboratory conditions and so presents only a remote risk of use as a bioweapon, its creators argue."}],[{"start":255.24999999999997,"text":"Good governance of the development of synthetic cell technology was vital given the dangers posed by hackers and other bad actors, said Juan Pérez-Mercader, a senior research fellow at Harvard University’s Origins of Life Initiative."}],[{"start":268.79999999999995,"text":"“Guards must be placed lest we affect in irreversible ways the evolution of natural life,” Pérez-Mercader said. “Biotic could be a great first step in the direction of fostering the research and promoting necessary engineering standards and ethics.” "}],[{"start":291.29999999999995,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1783086940_7915.mp3"}