Science & Nature

Engineering Life from Scratch

Synthetic Biology Is Rewriting the Code of Life — and the Rules of Manufacturing

Oliver Huang

Synthetic biologist at Imperial College London, designing genetic circuits for applications in medicine and sustainable manufacturing.

January 20, 2026·8 min read

Engineering Life from Scratch

Synthetic biology — the design and construction of new biological parts, devices, and systems — is transforming medicine, materials science, and manufacturing. Scientists can now write DNA sequences on a computer, synthesize them in a laboratory, and insert them into cells to produce novel proteins, materials, and organisms with properties that do not exist in nature.

TOPICS

synthetic biologybiotechnologygenetic engineeringmaterials science

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