- this is whom has done most synthetic biology and is famous for his evil work. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=638289632886625&l=15f28bd1a6
Congress hears benefits of synthetic biology
The researchers, an ethicist and members of Congress agreed the technology does not pose immediate environmental, security or ethical concerns.
By Maggie Fox, Reuters Thu, May 27, 2010IT’S ALIVE: J. Craig Venter, left, and Dr. Hamilton Smith stand in their lab. The scientists announced May 20 that they had produced a living cell powered by manmade DNA, a step toward the possibility of constructing artificial life. (Photo: ZUMA Press)WASHINGTON, D.C. - Synthetic biology can be used to make nonpolluting fuel, instant vaccines against new diseases and inexpensive medicines, but it will take time, collaboration and a nurturing regulatory environment, scientists said Thursday.The researchers, along with an ethicist and members of Congress, agreed the technology does not pose immediate environmental, security or ethical concerns but said everyone needs to keep an eye on developments.Most of the hearing before the House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee was spent outlining the potential of the technology.The hearing was scheduled last week after a team at the J. Craig Venter Institute announced that they had used an artificially synthesized genome to bring back to life a bacterium that had its own genetic material scooped out."It is not life from scratch," Venter, who founded the institute, told the hearing, calling the work "a baby step" in the field of synthetic biology, with the eventual goal of building organisms directly to order from digital DNA.As BP battled an enormous oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, prompting questions about where to look for oil and what threats petroleum products pose to the environment, scientists held out the prospect of microbes that can synthesize clean fuel and gobble up pollutants."Our optimistic estimates are that it is going to be at least a decade before there are replacements for gasoline and diesel fuel," said Venter, whose privately held Synthetic Genomics Inc. has a contract with Exxon Mobil Corp to try to make algae that can produce biofuel.New ventures
Jay Keasling of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California and the University of California Berkeley Synthetic Biology Engineering Research Center said his team's work had already been used as the foundation for two biofuel companies -- Emeryville-based Amyris Biotechnologies and South San Francisco-based LS9, the Renewable Petroleum Company.Keasling said vaccine maker Sanofi Aventis has licensed technology to make engineered brewer's yeast that produces the anti-malarial drug artemisinin. He expects production to provide the drug at cost to the developing world within two years.Venter said microbes engineered to make fuel from carbon dioxide could solve energy needs by pulling excess gases from the atmosphere that contribute to global warming.The same technology could be used to design new vaccines in the computer, he added. But changes to human biology are far away. "It's a gargantuan leap from what we did to human," Venter said.He defended moves to patent the technology. "This is clearly the first life form out of a computer and invented by humans," he said.
Some researchers have said they fear Venter or other groups could patent the process and lock them out.Bioethicist Gregory Kaebnick of the nonpartisan Hastings Center said he saw no immediate ethical challenges."I believe concerns about the sacredness of life are not undercut by the science," Kaebnick told the hearing. "We are just talking about microbes at this point."Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, agreed and said there were no special worries about biological attacks using the technology, noting that it took Venter's team years to make their organism."We also must keep in mind that nature itself is already an expert at creating microbes that can cause great harm to humans," Fauci said. "Do not overregulate something that needs care, integrity and responsibility," he urged the committee.(Editing by Julie Steenhuysen and Xavier Briand)Copyright 2010 Reuters US Online Report Health News 
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Scientist accused of playing God after creating artificial life by making designer microbe from scratch - but could it wipe out humanity?
By FIONA MACRAE UPDATED: 09:33 EST, 3 June 2010Scientists today lined up to air their fears over a genome pioneer's claims that he has created artificial life in the laboratory.In a world first, which has alarmed many, maverick biologist and billionaire entrepreneur Craig Venter, built a synthetic cell from scratch.The creation of the new life form, which has been nicknamed 'Synthia', paves the way for customised bugs that could revolutionise healthcare and fuel production, according to its maker.But there are fears that the research, detailed in the journal Science, could be abused to create the ultimate biological weapon, or that one mistake in a lab could lead to millions being wiped out by a plague, in scenes reminiscent of the Will Smith film I Am Legend.While some hailed the research as 'a defining moment in the history of biology', others attacked it as 'a shot in the dark', with 'unparalleled risks'. The team involved have been accused of 'playing God' and tampering 'with the essence of life'.Dr Venter created the lifeform by synthesising a DNA code and injecting it into a single bacteria cell. The cell containing the man-made DNA then grew and divided, creating a hitherto unseen lifeform.Kenneth Oye, a social scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the U.S., said: 'Right now, we are shooting in the dark as to what the long-term benefits and long-term risks will be.'Pat Mooney, of the ETC group, a technology watchdog with a special interest in synthetic biology, said: 'This is a Pandora's box moment - like the splitting of the atom or the cloning of Dolly the sheep, we will all have to deal with the fall-out from this alarming experiment.'Dr David King, of the Human Genetics Alert watchdog, said: 'What is really dangerous is these scientists' ambitions for total and unrestrained control over nature, which many people describe as 'playing God'.'Scientists' understanding of biology falls far short of their technical capabilities. We have learned to our cost the risks that gap brings, for the environment, animal welfare and human health.'Professor Julian Savulescu, an Oxford University ethicist, said: 'Venter is creaking open the most profound door in humanity's history, potentially peeking into its destiny.'He is not merely copying life artificially or modifying it by genetic engineering. He is going towards the role of God: Creating artificial life that could never have existed.'He said the creation of the first designer bug was a step towards 'the creation of living beings with capacities and a nature that could never have naturally evolved'. The risks were 'unparalleled',' he added.And he warned: 'This could be used in the future to make the most powerful bioweapons imaginable. The challenge is to eat the fruit without the worm.'
Dr Venter, who was instrumental in sequencing the human genome, had previously succeeded in transplanting one bug's genome - its entire cache of DNA - into another bacterium, effectively changing its species.He has taken this one step further, transplanting not a natural genome but a man-made one. To do this, he read the DNA of Mycoplasma mycoides, a bug that infects goats, and recreated it piece by piece.The fragments were then 'stitched together' and inserted into a bacterium from a different species.There, it sprang to life, allowing the bug to grow and multiply, producing generations that were entirely artificial.The transferred DNA contained around 850 genes - a fraction of the 20,000 or so contained in a human's genetic blueprint.In future, bacterial 'factories' could be set up to manufacture artificial organisms designed for specific tasks such as medicines or producing clean biofuels.The technology could also be harnessed to create environmentally friendly bugs capable of mopping up carbon dioxide or toxic waste.Dr Venter, a 63-year-old Vietnam War veteran known for his showman tendencies, said last night: 'We are entering a new era where we're limited mostly by our imaginations.'But the breakthrough, which took 15 years and £27.7million to achieve, opens an ethical Pandora's box. Ethicists said he is 'creaking open the most profound door in humanity's history' - with unparalleled risks.
Dr Venter, whose team of 20 scientists includes a Nobel laureate, likens the process to booting-up a computer.Like a program without a hard drive, the DNA doesn't do anything by itself. But, when the software is loaded into the computer - in this case the second bacterium - amazing things are possible, he said.Like diamonds, they can be grown into crystals - and you certainly cannot crystallise baboons. Most biologists say viruses are not alive, and that true biology begins with bacteria.So is Synthia, Venter's tentative name for his new critter, alive? It is certainly not the result of Darwinian evolution, one of the (many) definitions of life. It is more 'alive' than any virus but it is the product of Man, not of evolution. Its genetic code is simple enough to be stored on a computer (but then again, so is ours).Whatever the answer to this fundamental question, Venter's breakthrough is certainly the final rebuttal to the old notion of a vital spark - a mysterious essence that divides the quick from the dead. If you can carry around a genome on a computer memory stick and make a cell using a few simple chemicals, then the old idea of 'vitalism' is truly dead.
