Prof. Tom Ellis from Imperial College London described the development as perhaps the biggest recent breakthrough in the field, noting its utility in testing biological circuits and computer models of cellular life.
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“Making a synthetic cell helps us understand the exact minimum requirements for life and how life might have emerged from chemistry,” Ellis said.
Despite behaving like living cells, SpudCells are not considered alive.
They face severe operational limits, such as an inability to clear waste, control metabolism, or build their own protein-making machinery.
The cells often distribute incorrect amounts of DNA during division and cease functioning after a few generations.
Adamala and other experts have launched an institution called Biotic to further refine the technology.
Prof. Drew Endy, a bioengineer at Stanford University and co-founder of Biotic, stated the ultimate goal is to establish an operating system for life built from genes and biochemistry.
However, Prof. John Dupré, a philosopher from the University of Exeter, questioned whether such synthetic cells would ever outperform modified bacterial cells in manufacturing fuels or drugs.
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“What is missing, I think, is the relational aspect of life which has become clear in the growing realisation that life is almost universally symbiotic,” Dupré noted.
