Overview
- SpudCell, which the team described on Wednesday, July 1, 2026, is a liposome-based construct assembled from known molecules that can grow, replicate its genome, divide, and show selection across several generations.
- The system runs on a defined protein-expression mix and about 90 kilobases of genome split across multiple plasmids, but it cannot make its own ribosomes and so relies on fusion with feeder liposomes that supply ribosomes and other large components.
- Lineages typically run only about five to ten generations and inheritance is imperfect, with the team reporting roughly 30% of daughter compartments retaining the full set of genetic elements after five divisions, which limits autonomous evolution.
- The creators posted a preprint and launched Biotic to publish protocols and standards so other labs can reproduce and extend the work, an action meant to speed peer review, replication, and coordinated engineering efforts.
- Next steps the team and outside experts have highlighted include engineering ribosome biogenesis inside the system, consolidating and stabilizing the genome, and wider community validation to test safety, utility, and the limits of calling the system 'alive'.