Synthetic biology: Creating life from scratch?

The launch of the Synthetic Human Genome Project, supported by the Wellcome Trust, marks a new milestone in genetic research by raising the possibility of creating human DNA synthetically. This advance, supported by increasingly powerful artificial intelligence tools, opens up enormous therapeutic expectations, but also raises profound bioethical questions. Questions about the limits of human intervention, the associated risks, and moral responsibility in the face of technologies capable of transforming the very nature of life.

The world’s largest medical charity, the Wellcome Trust, has contributed £10 million (nearly $14 million) to launch a project. Details were revealed on the 25th anniversary of the completion of the Human Genome Project, which mapped human DNA molecules and was also largely funded by the Wellcome Trust.

The so-called Synthetic Human Genome Project aims to create parts of the genome or its entire structure from its basic components by reading a DNA molecule.

Background

As scientist Luis Franco aptly illustrated in a previous publication from our Observatory, the chemical synthesis of DNA has been a common practice for a long time. A gene was synthesized as early as 1984, and automated machines exist for performing this synthesis.

On May 20, 2010, Science published an article by Craig Venter, one of the pioneers in sequencing the human genome, and 23 other scientists announcing the creation of a bacterial cell controlled by a chemically synthesized genome.

As Professor Franco explains, Venter spoke of the creation of a “synthetic cell,” which had a great media impact, with headlines such as “scientists create artificial life in lab” published by The Times the following day.

In fact, what was achieved was the synthesis of M. mycoides DNA of almost 1,100,000 nucleotide pairs instead of the 300 that were assembled in the 1984 experiment. But this is very different from creating synthetic life in the laboratory: that DNA needed very complex pre-existing biological structures so that the code it contained could be expressed and program cellular function.

Synthetic Human Genome Project

This new project aims to advance the development of tools to create increasingly larger sections of human DNA, to the point of having synthetically constructed a human chromosome. This chromosome contains the genes that govern our development, repair, maintenance, and aging.

The use of artificial intelligence in this field has provided a major boost to transforming the way genomic information is analyzed and interpreted.

Thus, the creators of AlphaFold, the structural prediction tool for which they were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2024, presented in June 2025 a new artificial intelligence model called AlphaGenome.

The algorithms in this application help predict how genetic variants affect multiple aspects of gene regulation and explore new ways to understand how the genome works, being able to analyze sequences of up to one million base pairs and generate predictions at the nucleotide level.

Creating DNA from scratch

Matthew Hurles, director of the Wellcome Sanger Institute, which sequenced most of the human genome, has stated that “building DNA from scratch allows us to test out how DNA really works and test out new theories, because currently we can only really do that by tweaking DNA in DNA that already exists in living systems”.

Bioethical Challenges

This technology has considerable positive applications: identifying defects in DNA, synthesizing DNA sequences, developing new treatments, and obtaining new bacterial and improved plant species. The risks that accompany these potential achievements are enormous.

Some of the risks pointed out by Edinburgh University professor Bill Earnshaw are the production of biological weapons, genetic enhancement modifications in humans, and the insertion of human DNA into animals.

In addition to the risks associated with gene-editing techniques, the possibility of synthetically producing millions of nucleotide pairs can introduce catastrophic variations in the affected species.

The production of “custom-made humans” or genetically modified animals can become a lucrative business that related companies compete to control.

When researchers announce significant scientific advances in this field, it is usually about therapeutic applications that allow us to cure diseases that were previously incurable, to delay aging, or to prevent diseases.

But often, these legitimate purposes are soon superseded by others that are not legitimate, such as those previously mentioned.

Not everything that is possible should be done. Not every scientific breakthrough implies human progress. Learning from past mistakes should help prevent their repetition.

The risks posed by uncontrolled errors in the introduction of synthetic DNA sequences into living beings justify establishing strict regulations, consensus, and moratoriums to prevent it.

As the instruments in the hands of scientists become more powerful, it is necessary for them to acquire bioethical training.