Catholic bioethicist weighs in on scientific effort to create life from scratch

For years, scientists have sought to understand how a collection of chemicals that are not themselves alive — in the case of humans, inanimate organic molecules — are able to work together to create living organisms that can eat, reproduce, and even evolve.

As part of this effort, a team of European researchers is currently aiming — within the growing field of “synthetic biology” — to create simple synthetic life forms from scratch using molecules that are different from those found in organic life on earth.

Sijbren Otto, professor of systems chemistry at the University of Groningen, Netherlands, said in an interview with his university’s publication that the goal of the project, dubbed “MINILIFE,” is not necessarily to understand the origins of organic life but rather to understand how life itself works. The effort is being funded by the European Research Council and involves biologists and chemists from several universities, Financial Times reported.

Using basic molecules of elements like benzene and sulphur, the same scientists in 2010 figured out a way to make molecules that self-replicate, like DNA can. That inspired the researchers to think that perhaps they could create living things from scratch using different molecules than our bodies use.

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