Artificial Life Made To Terraform Mars

A mission to Mars may seem like a distant dream to cash-strapped Nasa, but a controversial scientist says we are on the verge of a breakthrough that would enable humans to settle there. U.S. scientist Craig Venter stunned the scientific community last year when he revealed that he had created the world's first synthetic organism.  Now his team are working on engineering the cells to grow by consuming carbon dioxide - and he thinks we can harness this to set up camp on the Red Planet.

Engineered organisms would have huge implications for Earth, where it could potentially be used to stem climate change and help feed a population that will soon top seven billion. 'Obviously, food and fuel production are at the top of our list and society's list,' Dr Venter told an audience at the TEDxNASA@SiliconValley event last week in San Francisco. He said the technology could also be used to build a new civilisation on Mars, as its thin atmosphere is 95 per cent carbon dioxide, according to Space.com.

 

'These kinds of processes will allow us to make almost anything needed there from that carbon dioxide environment,' Dr Venter said. The maverick biologist and billionaire entrepreneur, who made his money founding profitable research companies, created the lifeform by synthesising a DNA code and injecting it into a single bacteria cell. The cell containing the man-made DNA then grew and divided, creating a hitherto unseen lifeform that was nicknamed 'Synthia.' While some hailed the research as 'a defining moment in the history of biology', others attacked it as 'a shot in the dark', with 'unparalleled risks'. 

Undaunted, Dr Venter says his team are working on genetically engineering synthetic cells to use carbon dioxide to make food, fuel and plastics. This could lead to bacterial 'factories' that would manufacture artificial organisms designed for specific tasks. Dr Venter's company Synthetic Genomics, is currently trying to develop synthetic algae in partnership with ExxonMobil, to produce cheap and efficient biofuels.

WHO IS CRAIG VENTER?

Craig Venter is a controversial biologist and entrepreneur who led the effort by the private sector to sequence the human genome. He was vilified by the scientific community for turning the project into a competitive race but his efforts did mean that the human genome was mapped three years earlier than expected. 

Born in 1946, Dr Venter was an average scholar with a keen interest in surfing. It was while serving in Vietnam and tending to wounded comrades that he was inspired to become a doctor. During his medical training he excelled in research and was quick to realise the importance of decoding genes.

In 1992 he set up the private Institute for Genomic Research.  Then a mere three years later he stunned the scientific establishment by revealing the first complete genome of a free-living organism that causes childhood ear infections and meningitis. In 2005 he founded the private company Synthetic Genomics, with the aim of engineering new life forms the would produce alternative fuels. He was listed on Time Magazine's 100 list of the most influential people in both 2007 and 2008. In 2009, ExxonMobil announced a £400million collaboration with Synthetic Genomics to research and develop next-generation biofuels.