[NetBehaviour] Creating first synthetic life form

[marc]

Hi Patrick,

If we go as far as disposable pets- perhaps we can draw a limit it to 
disposable politicians...

marc

>Hopefully this will speed up my plan to produce a genetically modified puppy which will cease to be after the twelve days of christmas, a dog that is truly "not for life, a dog thats just for christmas"....
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>The ultimate consumer toy.
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>With car stickers and posters to match.
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>In the shops next crimbo.
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>patrick
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>-----Original Message-----
>From:	netbehaviour-bounces at netbehaviour.org on behalf of marc
>Sent:	Thu 12/22/2005 3:14 PM
>To:	NetBehaviour for networked distributed creativity
>Cc:	
>Subject:	[NetBehaviour] Creating first synthetic life form
>
>Creating first synthetic life form
>
>By CAROLYN ABRAHAM
>
>Work on the world's first human-made species is well under way at a 
>research complex in Rockville, Md., and scientists in Canada have been 
>quietly conducting experiments to help bring such a creature to life.
>
>Robert Holt, head of sequencing for the Genome Science Centre at the 
>University of British Columbia, is leading efforts at his Vancouver lab 
>to play a key role in the production of the first synthetic life form -- 
>a microbe made from scratch.
>
>The project is being spearheaded by U.S. scientist Craig Venter, who 
>gained fame in his former job as head of Celera Genomics, which 
>completed a privately-owned map of the human genome in 2000.
>
>Dr. Venter, 59, has since shifted his focus from determining the 
>chemical sequences that encode life to trying to design and build it: 
>"We're going from reading to writing the genetic code," he said in an 
>interview.
>
>The work is an extreme example of a burgeoning new field in science 
>known as synthetic biology. It relies on advances in computer technology 
>that permit the easy assembly of the chemical bits, known as 
>nucleotides, that make up DNA.
>
>Several scientific groups are trying to make genes that do not exist in 
>nature, in hopes of constructing microbes that perform useful tasks, 
>such as producing industrial chemicals, clean energy or drugs. Dr. 
>Venter and his colleagues are pushing the technology to its limits by 
>trying to put together an entirely synthetic genome.
>
>"We have these genetic codes that we have been determining, so part of 
>the proof [that they encode an organism] is reproducing the chromosome 
>and seeing if it produces the same result," he said.
>
>more...
>http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20051219.wxlife19/BNStory/specialScienceandHealth/
>
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