Boom Goes The Cucumber

Craig Venter, founder of Synthetic Genomics (a private company), outlines work being done in assembling synthetic microorganisms. His amazing work is based on the 4 amino acids which are used in building the genetic code. The talk goes over some hurdles to synthetically creating a chromosome, transplanting that chromosome into a cell and what his success means for the future.

The possibilities of this technology are only limited, as Craig mentioned, primarily by our imagination. The major goal of his work is to assemble a working language of genetic code which can be easily written and optimized creating an organism which has desirable traits. The promise of this can be seen in building organisms which solve the major challenges facing humanity today. An example can be seen in carbon dioxide, where we produce the compound as a waste other organisms metabolize it as food. Think, plants though others act more efficiently. With Venter’s work we could soon see a method of easily building a organism which can take that carbon dioxide, digests it, and emits octane or other useful substances.

The way Criag is approaching this problem is by building that language of genomes. The hope is that eventually a computer aided design program will allow design with just a point and a click. Truly exciting.