A synthetic human genome is completed

In May 2010, scientists created the first artificial lifeform. Mycoplasma laboratorium was a new species of bacterium, with man-made genetic code originating on a computer and placed on a synthetic chromosome inside an empty cell. Using its new "software", the cell could generate proteins and produce new cells.In March 2016, the same research institute in the U.S. announced the creation of a minimal bacterial genome, known as JCVI-syn3.0, containing only the genes necessary for life, and consisting of 473 genes. Whereas the original project (HGP-Read) was intended to "read" DNA to understand its code, the HGP-Write project would use the cellular machinery provided by nature to "write" new code, producing vast DNA chains.

The bacterial genome created in 2016 had 531,000 DNA base pairs and 473 genes. By contrast, the HGP-Write project would be orders of magnitude larger and more complex, with three billion base pairs and 20,000 genes. However, the earlier work on bacterial genomes had paved the way for new tools and semi-automated processes for whole genome synthesis. Longer term, the project would lead to transformative applications. Previously, the capability to construct DNA sequences in cells was mostly limited to a small number of short segments, restricting the ability to manipulate and understand biological systems. After the completion of HGP-Write, the ability to synthesise large portions of the human genome leads to major advances – in medicine, agriculture, energy and other areas – by connecting the sequence of bases in DNA with their physiological and functional behaviours.

 Some health applications that arise from HGP-write include the growing of transplantable human organs, engineering of immunity to viruses in cell lines, engineering cancer resistance in cell lines, and enabling high-productivity vaccines at low cost. HGP-Write involves taking synthetically constructed DNA to produce a human genome able to power a single cell in a dish. In the more distant future, however, this area of biology advances to the point where entire synthetic people can be designed from scratch – new custom-made "super humans" able to resist all disease infections, or made immune to the radiation and vacuum in space, for example. This leads to profound ethical questions about the nature of life.