Overview

• The Wellcome Trust committed an initial £10 million to support the five-year Synthetic Human Genome Project under Jason Chin’s leadership.
• Teams from Oxford, Imperial College London, the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology and other UK institutions are synthesizing large DNA segments as preparatory steps toward a full synthetic chromosome.
• Researchers aim to complete a synthetic human chromosome within five to ten years to unlock insights into genome biology and advance biotechnology and medicine.
• A parallel social science program led by Joy Zhang at the University of Kent has begun empirical studies on the socio-ethical, economic and policy implications of human genome synthesis.
• The initiative builds on previous bacterial genome synthesis achievements but experts caution that the technology could be misused for designer genetics or biological weapons.