Venter Denies Synthetic Cell Discovery Is Artificial Life, Vatican Agrees

    By James DeGiulio --

Last week, we reported that a research team led by Dr. Craig Venter had developed a "synthetic cell" controlled by purely synthetic DNA (see "Dr. Craig Venter Creates First Cell Controlled Entirely by Synthetic DNA")  Dr. Venter and co-author Dr. Daniel Gibson have written an op-ed piece that was recently published in The Wall Street Journal, entitled "How We Created the First Synthetic Cell," which describes their scientific advance and addresses some of the ethical issues involved.  Perhaps fearing a bioethical backlash, the two researchers vehemently deny that they have created life, instead suggesting that they "transformed existing life into new life."  Drs. Venter and Gibson describe their research process as using digitized information to synthesize a modified version of the "naturally occurring" Mycoplasma mycoides genome.

As a historical example, Drs. Venter and Gibson reference the 1967 discovery by Nobel prize winner Dr. Arthur Kornberg (at left), who successfully copied the phiX174 virus DNA.  The authors note that President Lyndon Johnson, at that time, hailed Dr. Kornberg's work as "a very spectacular breakthrough," yet accurately predicted "[i]f you think about some of these decisions the present president is making -- it is going to be a kindergarten class compared to the decisions some future president is going to have to make."  Indeed, President Obama, in a letter last week to the chair of his new bioethics commission, wrote:  "This development raises the prospect of important benefits, such as the ability to accelerate vaccine development.  At the same time, it raises genuine concerns, and so we must consider carefully the implications of this research."  Drs. Venter and Gibson close the piece by welcoming and encouraging such review and dialogue.

The Vatican, after evaluating the methodology of Dr. Venter's creation of the "synthetic cell," has reached the same conclusion put forth by the researchers:  that the discovery is not "creating life" and thus does not move beyond the church's bioethical boundaries.  Furthermore, perhaps surprising to some, the Vatican has publicly praised the discovery.  The Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano published an article calling it an "interesting result" and was optimistic that the development could help cure disease.  Importantly, rather than considering the development as creating life, the article considered that the researchers instead had merely "replaced one of its motors," and that "the DNA, even though it is an excellent engine, is not life."

Though the Vatican's response may appear surprising, the church actually does not officially oppose genetic engineering, so long as the science avoids embryonic stem cells, cloning, or anything else that dabbles in the re-creation of human life.  Nonetheless, the Vatican recognizes that the Venter discovery has taken a substantial step closer to creating life.  Despite the praise in the article, the Venter research team was encouraged to "join courage with caution," when moving forward into such delicate territory.

Patent Docs will report on the scientific community's response to Dr. Venter's "synthetic cell" discovery in a later post.

James DeGiulio has a doctorate in molecular biology and genetics from Northwestern University and is a third-year law student at the Northwestern University School of Law.  Dr. DeGiulio was a member of MBHB's 2009 class of summer associates, and he can be contacted at [email protected].

Comments

[Skeptical]

From the frying pan into the fire.

If they are merely synthesizing something already in nature - no patent (similar to Ariad?).

[caroline carr-locke]

I do care what Dr Venter does as long as he alleviated human suffering just find me a synthetic cell to cure my IDIOPATHIC AXONAL PERIPHERAL NEUROPATHY

[6]

Mad scientists. They're all mad scientists. What's next? Oh, I just "transformed existing life into new life" ala Frankenstien?