UK Scientists Plan to Construct Synthetic Human Genetic Material From Scratch

"Researchers are embarking on an ambitious project to construct human genetic material from scratch," reports the Guardian, "to learn more about how DNA works and pave the way for the next generation of medical therapies." Scientists on the Synthetic Human Genome (SynHG) project will spend the next five years developing the tools and knowhow to build long sections of human genetic code in the lab. These will be inserted into living cells to understand how the code operates.

Armed with the insights, scientists hope to devise radical new therapies for the treatment of diseases. Among the possibilities are living cells that are resistant to immune attack or particular viruses, which could be transplanted into patients with autoimmune diseases or with liver damage from chronic viral infections. "The information gained from synthesising human genomes may be directly useful in generating treatments for almost any disease," said Prof Jason Chin, who is leading the project at the MRC's Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) in Cambridge...

For the SynHG project, researchers will start by making sections of a human chromosome and testing them in human skin cells. The project involves teams from the universities of Cambridge, Kent, Manchester, Oxford and Imperial College London... Embedded in the project is a parallel research effort into the social and ethical issues that arise from making genomes in the laboratory, led by Prof Joy Zhang at the University of Kent. "We're a little way off having anything tangible that can be used as a therapy, but this is the time to start the discussion on what we want to see and what we don't want to see," said Dr Julian Sale, a group leader at the LMB.

Truly from scratch?

[BoogieChile]

I though you had to first invent the Universe in order to do that.

I produce human genetic material all the time

[TheMiddleRoad]

Throughout my body, even! Some in my balls, too. If you're single, female, of legal age by no more than double that, and thin or athletic, I'm happy to share some with you.

"..pave the way for the next generation of humans"

[Rujiel]

"Oops did I say that out loud? I meant therapies of course"

In 5 years

[ZipNada]

"Scientists on the Synthetic Human Genome (SynHG) project will spend the next five years developing the tools and knowhow to build long sections of human genetic code in the lab."

Yeah, come back to us when you've actually done some of that. I'm going to do a lot of amazingly cool things over the next five years too. Or not.

Space travel

[timeOday]

This seems like about the only way interstellar travel could actually work. Freeze-drying living people for 5000 years seems like a long shot. But would we engineer machines to last that long and construct people on arrival? Seems awfully long. Also, would they be fully human after being raised or constructed by robots?

I guess deep-freezing eggs and sperm would be easier.

Re: Space travel

[mhajicek]

Id prefer uploading.

Re:

[timeOday]

Fair enough, you have to wonder if the human body will even be relevant in 5000 years.

Re:

[TheMiddleRoad]

Or in 5.

Drug delivery problem

[backslashdot]

We should spend money instead on the biggest barrier to that prevents humans from curing virtually any disease -- the drug delivery problem. All other problems solvability is difficult only because of the fact that we haven't a solution to it.

"How do you deliver a large payload into every and any cell of the human body?"

The closest tech we have to that is "LNP (for mRNA) + protein binder" or Adenovirus vector.

Small molecules can be delivered into every cell, however small notoriously molecules go off target and even if it didn't they cannot fix every problem in a cell.

If you can efficiently deliver a large payload—such as 15 kilobases of mRNA or an equivalent amount of protein—directly into the cytoplasm of every cell, you can essentially equip each cell with an internal diagnostic lab. This setup can detect abnormal or harmful cellular activity by sensing internal mRNA or aberrant proteins. If a cell is identified as malfunctioning or cancerous, you can then either correct the defect or initiate destruction of the cell. There are numerous ways to do the detection of unwanted mRNA and, if present, perform an action, however they all require large molecular "machines" (proteins/RNA).

What's the core of the project?

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

Is there some problem particular to human DNA that they are looking to solve; or is this just an extension of the ongoing work on DNA synthesis(if you are OK with relatively short segments that has come down to being something you can just order, not nearly as exotic as it once was) but being hyped because there's some human cell genetic engineering at the end; rather than just meeting more aggressive targets for achievable lengths?