Scientists have created the world’s first man-made cell that can eat, grow and reproduce. Called SpudCell, it is the work of Kate Adamala and her team of researchers at the University of Minnesota. This creation gives scientists a better understanding of the origins of life, could help create new medicines, and solve some of the world’s biggest biological problems, reports CNN.
Professor Kate Adamala and her team constructed the cell piece by piece from nonliving chemical components. The creation is a limited and fragile prototype, but it could help scientists better understand the origins of life and could potentially be programmed to help mitigate some of the world’s biggest biological problems. The cell is nonspecific �" neither plant nor animal �" but most closely resembles a simple bacterium.
“I know the full ingredient list of the cell, I know exactly what chemicals, what molecules at what concentrations,” she said. “It is fully defined, which means we can engineer it.”
Scientists have for decades bioengineered natural cells to solve human problems. A famous example is how human insulin genes can be inserted into E. coli bacterial cells to manufacture insulin and treat diabetes.
Scientists argue synthetic cells are the next frontier; they could potentially lead to the development of new cancer treatments and novel ways to capture carbon or manufacture chemicals.
Cells are the fundamental building blocks of life, but they are far from simple. The human body has 37 trillion cells, more than the number of stars in the sky, and scientists still don’t know how every different cell type works or what exactly they contain.
