Craig Venter's "Designer" Cells

Biologists have announced the creation of a new synthetic chromosome as an advancement towards generating artificial life.

Craig Venter and his team aim to transplant the new strand of DNA into a living cell. They have already achieved a similar concept that has proven they can transplant a strand into a cell in order to change its species. However, this new work aims to cause the cell to grow and reproduce.

Venter says that once they have produced a ‘designer’ cell in this way, they can use it to create alternative energy sources or tackle climate change by soaking up CO2. Venter claims that an artificial fuel producing micro could be the first trillion dollar organism.