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Kate Adamala

@kateadamala.bsky.social
168 followers 5 following 23 posts

Life as we don't know it: building biology from scratch with synthetic cells. www.protobiology.org

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Reposted by Kate Adamala
European Synthetic Cell Initiative @syncelleu.bsky.social · 15/04/2025
Build-A-Cell Workshop (#14) on 10 May at Stanford University, USA. Registration is now open For more information, visit www.buildacell.org/workshop14 #syncell #syntheticcell #research @kateadamala.bsky.social
buildacell.org
Workshop14 — Build-a-Cell
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Reposted by Kate Adamala
Hannes Mutschler @mutschlerlab.bsky.social · 09/04/2025
Interested in a #postdoc in #originsoflife research? Are you a geek who loves #RNA, #RNAseq and tinkering, with a background in #biochemistry, #chemistry or #biophysics? Join #bubblelife! Apply now by email (CV + a short motivation letter)! cordis.europa.eu/project/id/1...
cordis.europa.eu
From RNA-peptide coevolution to cellular life at heated air bubbles | BubbleLife | Projekt | Fact Sheet | HORIZON | CORDIS | European Commission
"The origin of life on Earth is one of humanity's profound mysteries that lacks scientific answers. We aim to answer this fundamental question by performing pioneering experiments starting from the Da...
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Kate Adamala @kateadamala.bsky.social · 25/03/2025
Stay tuned :) We're about to post on archive a protocol that will solve the problem. The precious Roche stocks will be replaced by warm fresh homemade tRNAs.
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Reposted by Kate Adamala
The Conversation U.S. @us.theconversation.com · 17/02/2025
A synthetic biologist first saw “mirror life” as a way to answer biological questions and drive innovation. But through studying its immunology and ecology, she came to realize its potentially dire environmental and health risks. buff.ly/41j7NyQ By @kateadamala.bsky.social
buff.ly
Mirror life is a scientific fantasy leading to a dangerous reality − a synthetic biologist explains how mirror bacteria could conquer life on Earth
Synthetic cells that look just like natural cells but are chemically reversed could outcompete other living organisms − with dire consequences for human health and the environment.
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Kate Adamala @kateadamala.bsky.social · 14/12/2024
Unfortunately yes. We need to engineer new pathway, either with a racemase or starting with achiral precursors.
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Kate Adamala @kateadamala.bsky.social · 14/12/2024
Yes. I'm hoping the attention will help with making plans.
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Kate Adamala @kateadamala.bsky.social · 14/12/2024
Me too. That's why this whole thing in the first place. I hope common sense (in short supply recently) will actually prevail.
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Kate Adamala @kateadamala.bsky.social · 14/12/2024
Antimatter life would at least be useful. Make a planet into nice fireworks.
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Kate Adamala @kateadamala.bsky.social · 14/12/2024
The cheerful holiday thought here is that people who worked on mirror life recognized the concerns and will now work against it ever being built. The timing is nice, that's a Christmas present for all of us.
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Kate Adamala @kateadamala.bsky.social · 14/12/2024
They would likely not be resistant to mirror antibiotics. Still should not be made.
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Kate Adamala @kateadamala.bsky.social · 14/12/2024
That's kind of the point though, we will _not_ make it. We're determined to leave wiping of us to the climate and other already existing threats, without adding a new one.
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Kate Adamala @kateadamala.bsky.social · 14/12/2024
Origin of life is harder process than rational design. Mirror cell engineered in the lab would be fully baked, with all pathways needed for survival. Origins of life produces millions of years of wimpy barely-alive things. That's why we don't see any alternative trees of life - infant mortality.
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Kate Adamala @kateadamala.bsky.social · 14/12/2024
If the original has mustache, then mirror clone would have a goatee.
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Kate Adamala @kateadamala.bsky.social · 14/12/2024
That's actually an not-happened existential crisis that might be calming to read about, because surprisingly and for a change we did the right thing.
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Kate Adamala @kateadamala.bsky.social · 14/12/2024
Anyone fighting in favor of making mirror life can go eat a hotdog without ketchup. 🤢
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Kate Adamala @kateadamala.bsky.social · 14/12/2024
We kind of took the stove away. Or rather, decided not to build it.
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Kate Adamala @kateadamala.bsky.social · 14/12/2024
not now, and not ever.
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Kate Adamala @kateadamala.bsky.social · 13/12/2024
A week ago, we had less. Just people working on it without discussion of concerns. That's progres I'd rather have than not.
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Kate Adamala @kateadamala.bsky.social · 13/12/2024
True. We identified the threat. But we're also the people who have influence over this field, we're it. So preventing is on the table. I would rather at least try, than ignore it and hope.
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Kate Adamala @kateadamala.bsky.social · 13/12/2024
We're far enough away from actually knowing how to build the thing, that calling it quits right now is a pretty good safeguard. We're stopping early enough.
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Kate Adamala @kateadamala.bsky.social · 13/12/2024
Nah, this is actually good, calming reading. The take home message is that we identified the threat and prevented it. I'd much more worry if the message was "trust us it'll be done safely", then you want to run for the hills.
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Kate Adamala @kateadamala.bsky.social · 13/12/2024
It's only 300 pages, light reading for the weekend.
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Kate Adamala @kateadamala.bsky.social · 13/12/2024
D-protein therapeutics will be great. Same as Spiegelmer drugs. I hope that discussion on not making a whole replicating mirror cell with serve to point out how non-replicating polymers are actually safe and have impactful applications.
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Kate Adamala @kateadamala.bsky.social · 13/12/2024
It would be a turtle in a world of hares. But a turtle with an invisibility cloak, able to bide it's time and grow persistently.
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Kate Adamala @kateadamala.bsky.social · 13/12/2024
We're more like ringing a dinner bell than alarm bell: we want to bring people together for a discussion. It's working: we're talking about it right here. I would rather have those conversations while mirror cells do not exist, than have to scramble if they do exist and our concerns were right.
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Kate Adamala @kateadamala.bsky.social · 13/12/2024
Ever _if_ we're totally wrong, would it not be better to _not_ find out? There is enough concerns that warrant at least caution. There is no application or research question important enough to justify that risk.
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Reposted by Kate Adamala
Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · 12/12/2024
Over 30 prominent scientists call for a ban on the creation of a "mirror cell"--a microbe made of molecules that are mirror images of their natural forms. It could cause a mind-boggling global disaster. Here's my story [gift link] 🧪https://nyti.ms/3OUCXp6
nyti.ms
A ‘Second Tree of Life’ Could Wreak Havoc, Scientists Warn (Gift Article)
Research on so-called mirror cells, which defy fundamental properties of living organisms, should be prohibited as too dangerous, biologists said.
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