A team of UK-based scientists are developing technology to create the first synthetic human chromosome. The ability to write large genomes has the potential to transform our understanding of human health, opening opportunities to develop cell therapies, climate-resistant crops and more.
The Wellcome Trust is providing £10 million funding to the new Synthetic Human Genome Project (SynHG) to develop the foundational tools, technology and methods to enable researchers to one day synthesise genomes.
Building a full synthetic human genome is expected to take decades. Over the next five years, the SynHG project will build the foundational tools to enable this work.
While this is a huge challenge, the potential benefits are profound. A fully synthetic human genome – and the research to create it – would transform our understanding of health and disease.
It could one day lead to new medical treatments, like designer cell-based therapies and virus-resistant tissue transplantation. It could also help us defend biodiversity and food security, such as by engineering plant species to withstand climate extremes.
Unlike genome editing, genome synthesis allows for changes at a larger scale, and to determine causal relationships between DNA and human characteristics.
