Creation implies an act that is based on some combinationof perfect knowledge, unlimited power, and infiniteresources. Gods create. Engineers on the other hand,from structural to electrical and now biological, arealways constrained by (1) an imperfect understandingof raw materials, (2) limited abilities to manipulate these materials,and (3) a budget. As a result, engineers construct. The art of engineeringis to reliably construct useful and beautiful artifacts despiteour limits.
In synthetic biology, there is now tremendous excitement aboutconstructing fully functioning cells from scratch. Unlike past scientificresearch - for example, sequencing of the human genome - the raceto construct synthetic cells has no finish line. Instead, synthetic cellswill be judged on their elegance of design, functional prowess, andsafety features, all characteristics that can be continuously improved.For comparison, would you want to drive your car across the world'sfirst "minimal" bridge?
As one or more of the remarkably diverse approaches toconstruct synthetic cells succeed, the resulting ...
