A Programming Langauge for Genetic Engineering of Living Cells

http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/gec/

by silkodyssey • 16 years ago

37 16 16 years ago

research.microsoft.com

seasoup• 16 years ago

A programming language for creating living things? Developed by Microsoft? shudders

jeffbarr• 16 years ago

The objects can be programmed to turn blue when they die. They call it the Blue Death of Screen.

what• 16 years ago

On the creation of the first synthetic cell: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHIocNOHd7A

jared314• 16 years ago

Down for everyone or just me?

zitterbewegung• 16 years ago

Just you.

zebra• 16 years ago

How do you press Ctrl-Alt-Del on a cellular level? First function for Microsoft to implement.

sailormoon• 16 years ago

I am more interested in how to save memory to disk and restart...

jpatte2• 16 years ago

Synthetic biology aims at producing novel biological systems to carry out some desired and well-defined functions. An ultimate dream is to design these systems at a high level of abstraction using engineering-based tools and programming languages, press a button, and have the design translated to DNA sequences that can be synthesised and put to work in living cells.

Why do I have a bad feeling about this? I can't help to wonder: "Will the world necessarily be a better place when this will be possible?"

pigbucket2• 16 years ago

I don't see this as Pandora's box, in part because we've already got that; I think you have a bad feeling about this because you're insufficiently worried about things that are actually really scary: cancer, heart disease, HIV, malaria, and so on.

jpatte2• 16 years ago

I'm actually more worried by the fate of the planet while we let the world population explode and keep suppressing possible causes of human death. We should first get concerned about how these trillions of people will live in a dying world.

I sincerely hope these technologies will be used in the purpose of preventing the planet's doom, although I'm pretty sure they will only serve for more human selfishness, as you seem to suggest it.

danielnicollet• 16 years ago

Not sure I want to meet the human genetic incarnation of Windows Vista ;-)

mikedmiked• 16 years ago

I demoed an early version of this about a year ago. It had an intuitive UI that any biologist without programming experience could understand even back then.

The two main time-drains for synthetic biologists are 1) Lab work creating (which will be phased out when cheap synthesis gets going in 1-3years) and 2) designing the sequence (which this program helps automate). So the rate of progress in the field is definitely going to accelerate...

gojomo• 16 years ago

The headline made me think of this 2002 Cory Doctorow story:

http://www.salon.com/technology/feature/2002/08/28/0wnz0red/...

lkrubner• 16 years ago

jpatte, there is absolutely no need to worry about over-population. If we abolish all diseases and discover a method that allows biological immortality, such that the world ends up with a lot more people then it has now, then we will always have war, which in the past has allowed for a wonderful restoration of lower population densities. Just think how quickly a bad situation could be improved through the use of just a few nuclear weapons.

A Programming Langauge for Genetic Engineering of Living Cells

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