Search for: All records

The annual Minimal Cell Workshop, hosted by the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI), is an international virtual seminar that brings together over 80 academic, industrial, and government laboratories. Researchers use the JCVI’s minimal bacterial cell platform to explore the principles of cellular life and integrate new chemical pathways. Since its creation in 2016, this platform has fostered global collaborations. The fourth workshop featured 26 talks on ongoing research with minimal cell strains, including JCVI-syn1.0, JCVI-syn3.0, JCVI-syn3A, and JCVI-syn3B. Topics included innovative imaging techniques like super-resolution microscopy and cryotomography, DNA replication assays, and minimal cell division. New approaches for ATP synthesis and the role of moonlighting proteins were also discussed. JCVI-syn3B applications explored its potential in understanding persistent pathogens and as an anticancer therapeutic. The workshop encouraged sharing techniques for cell culture and genetic manipulation, fostering collaboration and advancing efforts to develop genome-scale algorithms for understanding and manipulating cellular functions. 

All known life is homochiral. DNA and RNA are made from “righthanded” nucleotides, and proteins are made from “left-handed” amino acids. Driven by curiosity and plausible applications, some researchers had begun work toward creating lifeforms composed entirely of mirror-image biological molecules. Such mirror organisms would constitute a radical departure from known life, and their creation warrants careful consideration. The capability to create mirror life is likely at least a decade away and would require large investments and major technical advances; we thus have an opportunity to consider and preempt risks before they are realized. Here, we draw on an indepth analysis of current technical barriers, how they might be eroded by technological progress, and what we deem to be unprecedented and largely overlooked risks. We call for broader discussion among the global research community, policy-makers, research funders, industry, civil society, and the public to chart an appropriate path forward.