Craig Venture, the man who discovered Artificial Life

In the 1980s and 1990s, an ambitious project way underway to accurately determine the entire structure of the human genome. The human genome is the complete software of the body, meaning the combination of every cell's DNA to make us what we are. Microbiologists all across the United States were working on this project. The problem was, it was incredibly complicated to construct a map of the human genome. It would be the equivalent of trying to piece together a jigsaw puzzle with billions of pieces too small to see.

It was expected for this project to take 15 years and cost about $3 Billion. In 1998, however, Venter stepped up and said that he could do it in 3 years and only use $300 million. Venter's team developed a new technology called chop-gun sequencing in which a strand of DNA is broken up into smaller pieces, which a laser would then read and record the data onto a computer. With the data complete, the world's third largest super computer stiches the DNA back together in the correct order.

After 3 years, Venter has successfully completed his task of determining the entire structure of the human genome. Venter then began to pursue a dream that he has had for many years- to create an artificial form of life. Knowing that he might fail, Venter remained confident that he had time to accomplish this feat. He said, "...if you have a string of successes, you can get a chance for a few failures before you get shut down."

Having helped to perfect the art of reading DNA, Venter was about to do the opposite: write it. Craig and his team, however, became worried that they may be going too far- is what they're even doing ethical? Arthur Caplan, a bioethicist at the University of Pennsylvania, claimed that, "When you start making life-forms, you cross into a realm of creation that poets, mythologists, and prophets have warned against. 'Don't open that box, it's too powerful, and we're not smart enough or wise enough.'" This idea started a year and a half long review at UPenn, in which major religious leaders were brought in and asked if they though what Venter and his team were doing was ethical. Religious leaders, surprisingly, did not have any objections. In the words of one leader, "The issue isn't whether you modify life, or create life; it's what you use it for."

Venter wanted to use synthetic life to make the world a better place: a world with a cleaner environment, a world with alternative fuels. Craig's thinking caught the attention of the Department of Energy, and money began to flow, in favor of using microbial engineering to free us from nuclear power plants and other forms of pollution.

With government support, Venter called in two of his friends: geneticist Clyde Hutchinson and Nobel Laureate, Dr. Hamilton Smith, who had won the Nobel Prize for his discovery of enzymes that break up DNA. The team began construction of a virus, which is little more than a very small amount of DNA or RNA. Once they had assembled a simple virus, they were ready to make larger chunks of DNA. If their experiments worked, they would be able to custom create a cell to do whatever they want.

In 2005, Craig Venter assembled a team of the top 20 scientists in the world to create an actual life-form. The team seperated into two teams: synthesis and transplant. The idea was that the synthesis team would write a DNA sequence for a small bacterium called Microplasm genitalium. M. genitalium happens to be the smallest bacterium known to man, containing only 600,000 base pairs.

After an unsuccessful year, one of the scientists working with Venter, Dr. Gwyn Benders, suggested the use of yeast, which had been proven to help assemble strands of DNA. By 2007, the Venter team had the complete genome for the bacterium, but they were not done.  How do you transplant DNA into a cell? Until the transplant team could figure that out, the entire project was on hold.

One of the scientists working on the transplant team became very frustrated because, although the genome for the bacterium was the smallest known to man, making it very simple to recreate. It took about one whole month to show results as to whether the transplant was successful, and each time, it wasn't. So the scientist, Carole Lartigue, asked if a larger bacterium could be used, called Microplasma mycoides, which grows rapidly and can be clearly seen on a culture.

After months of unsuccessful attempts, Lartigue had become the first person to turn one cell into another by giving it another cell's DNA. Unfortunately, there then arose some conflicts between the DNA created, and the DNA transplanted. It was like Venter had built a car-motor, but all Lartigue knew how to install was a jet engine. Craig resolved this problem by saying, "I think we just need to build the next biggest chromosome."

While waiting for the team to construct the next genome, Craig visited a large greenhouse, which he had set up to grow cells that would consume CO2. Although a greenhouse as big as the one he was visiting may seem unnecessarily large for growing bacteria that can't even be seen with the human eye--it is in fact only a small fraction of what the world would need to be free. In fact, Venter estimated that an area about the size of San Francisco would be needed to grow enough bacteria to rid us of our constant CO2 pollution. Many dangers arise with this bacteria. If the bacteria were to get into any area that it was not made to interact with, it could have serious affects on other populations. In response to this threat, Venter replied, "We can build in suicide genes, so as soon as they don't have the same environment, the cells self-destruct."

On March 24, 2010, the yeast-transformation experiment was successful in creating a complete M. mycoides genome. Within a few days, the DNA would be transferred to the transplant team.

On Monday, March 29, 2010, scientists viewed the first man-made cells ever created!

This is a major landmark in human history, and Craig Venter and his expert team of geneticists and microbiologists from around the world will continue their research to further improve modern science as we know it.