Kate Adamala

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Kate Adamala

Kate Adamala

@KateAdamala

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

Katılım Mart 2015
268 Takip Edilen2.6K Takipçiler
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Kate Adamala
Kate Adamala@KateAdamala·
Today I’m joining 30+ colleagues in taking an unusual step: calling for a halt to a line of research I was excited about, the long-term effort to build “mirror life”. We’re sharing our findings in a @ScienceMagazine paper: science.org/doi/10.1126/sc… 1/6
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Kate Adamala retweetledi
David Sun Kong, Ph.D.
David Sun Kong, Ph.D.@davidsunkong·
I’m thrilled to announce that the application for the 2025 edition of our @medialab and global synthetic biology course, “How to Grow (Almost) Anything” is now open! Application link in thread 👇
David Sun Kong, Ph.D. tweet media
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Colin Legg
Colin Legg@colinleggphoto·
@BealesLab @KateAdamala @EricTopol @ScienceMagazine The article mentioned genetically engineering mirror life to consume chiral nutrients. I suppose you could counter that by then engineering chiral bacteria to consume anti-chiral nutrients. But that seems like starting a new arms race.
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Eric Topol
Eric Topol@EricTopol·
The capability for producing "mirror life" is out there and poses danger. When some scientists who worked on this became aware, they stopped pursuing it, and co-authored this piece, along with over 30 leading scientists—a @ScienceMagazine policy forum that lays out the risks science.org/doi/10.1126/sc…
Eric Topol tweet media
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Kate Adamala
Kate Adamala@KateAdamala·
@LoganTCollins Best thing about vaults is that most of out classical model organisms don't have them. So we missed out on a century of vault studies because we rolled the dice wrong at the dawn of experimental biology.
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Logan Thrasher Collins
Logan Thrasher Collins@LoganTCollins·
Love vaults, first read about them on Wikipedia way back in middle school! I'm now leveraging vaults as a new gene delivery system by encapsulating adeno-associated viruses (AAVs) inside of them! You can read more in my preprint linked here: biorxiv.org/content/10.110…
Massimo@Rainmaker1973

The most enigmatic structure in cell biology: the Vault. Often missing from science text books due to the mysterious nature of their existence, it has been 40 years since the discovery of these giant, half-empty structures, produced within nearly every cell, of every animals, on the planet.

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Paul Beales
Paul Beales@BealesLab·
@KateAdamala @The_Angu @EricTopol @ScienceMagazine The community probably needs a discussion on how best to engage in measured dialogue about ethics and risk. I'm not convinced that initiating major press headlines of "mirror bacteria that could wipe out mankind" is the answer.
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Kate Adamala
Kate Adamala@KateAdamala·
@BealesLab @The_Angu @EricTopol @ScienceMagazine How would you propose wide discussion with scientific community while keeping it out of the public? The worst that we could have would be press sniffing out a confidential discussion, conspiracy theorists would descend on us like a pack of golden retrievers on a bag of chips.
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Kate Adamala
Kate Adamala@KateAdamala·
@BealesLab @The_Angu @EricTopol @ScienceMagazine No, the entire field didn't have time to consider the concerns for long enough yet. We just presented the research, now we're having open call for discussion on both the science and the needed policy.
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Paul Beales
Paul Beales@BealesLab·
@KateAdamala @The_Angu @EricTopol @ScienceMagazine Was the entire field in agreement? The fact you plan a workshop/discussion on this next year suggests not. But what will be the purpose of this meeting when the bad press and public mistrust has already been created?
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Kate Adamala
Kate Adamala@KateAdamala·
@BealesLab @The_Angu @EricTopol @ScienceMagazine The facts are absolute. Everything else is an opinion. The research on immune system, growth on achiral carbon sources etc are facts. The ways to safeguard, the needed response from the community, are all my opnions. Opinions can be changed. I'm sorry if I didn't make it clear.
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Kate Adamala
Kate Adamala@KateAdamala·
@BealesLab @The_Angu @EricTopol @ScienceMagazine I think this improves trust in science. People who developed this direction of research changed their mind. I would say it shows we're willing to give up a promising direction and give up potential benefits for safeguarding.
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Paul Beales
Paul Beales@BealesLab·
@KateAdamala @The_Angu @EricTopol @ScienceMagazine That is why I think it's a dangerous precedent. Do we want a scientific community that is constantly throwing fear at the public? Will that more broadly improve public trust in science? I think not. We need less public forums to play out these conversations first. (4/4)
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Paul Beales
Paul Beales@BealesLab·
@KateAdamala @The_Angu @EricTopol @ScienceMagazine Then why call for open dialogue if already entrenched in your opinion? It's important to question and avoid groupthink, the pandemic of social media. I have no vested interest in mirror life but I do in broader biotech and I think your article sets a dangerous precedent (1/x)
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Paul Beales
Paul Beales@BealesLab·
@The_Angu @KateAdamala @EricTopol @ScienceMagazine Would the chirality of cyanotoxins matter? I don't know. But a moot point as it's now a lost technology given the press release and subsequent news articles of putative doomsday scenarios. Even if later proven unjustified, public opinion will always now fear this.
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Mnemo Meme
Mnemo Meme@Mnemomeme·
@anderssandberg @kesvelt @jasoncrawford "There are three relevant phrases in this 200 page paper" seems like an intentional snub. If it's a chapter addressing the specific question, or perhaps a single page even if it's that small of a relevance window, an appendix snippet for referencing it would be more citable.🧐🤓
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Jason Crawford
Jason Crawford@jasoncrawford·
A new article in Science voices concern about a line of biological research which, if successful long-term, could create a grave threat to humanity and to most life on Earth. Fortunately, the threat is distant, and avoidable—but only if we have common knowledge of it.
Jason Crawford tweet media
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Kate Adamala
Kate Adamala@KateAdamala·
@slavov_n It's kind of sad that's newsworthy, instead of just normal part of science. 🤷‍♀️
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Kate Adamala
Kate Adamala@KateAdamala·
@OmicsOmicsBlog On October 9 1903 New York Times wrote "the flying machine (…) might be evolved (…) in from one million to ten million years." Wright Brothers flew two months later. I would rather not find out how close are we to making mirror life.
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Keith Robison
Keith Robison@OmicsOmicsBlog·
No human has booted up a living cell from a defined mixture of compounds. Claims that the capability to produce mirror life is “out there” is a gross exaggeration
Eric Topol@EricTopol

The capability for producing "mirror life" is out there and poses danger. When some scientists who worked on this became aware, they stopped pursuing it, and co-authored this piece, along with over 30 leading scientists—a @ScienceMagazine policy forum that lays out the risks science.org/doi/10.1126/sc…

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Kate Adamala
Kate Adamala@KateAdamala·
@antonioregalado I will still make fun of left handed DNA. You can take the fun of mirror cell work away from me, but I'm not giving up my hard earned right to ridicule random pictures.
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Antonio Regalado
Antonio Regalado@antonioregalado·
We've been making fun of left-handed DNA pictures appearing the media. But "mirror life" is no joke. Scientists warn that future synthetic organisms whose molecules turn the wrong direction could become the ultimate invasive species in a world designed to go the other way.
Eric Topol@EricTopol

The capability for producing "mirror life" is out there and poses danger. When some scientists who worked on this became aware, they stopped pursuing it, and co-authored this piece, along with over 30 leading scientists—a @ScienceMagazine policy forum that lays out the risks science.org/doi/10.1126/sc…

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Edward Hammond
Edward Hammond@pricklyresearch·
@emilyakopp If that's true, he's got a very lousy sense of timing. I don't know Esvelt personally. He can find my email if he wants. Perhaps I'm too jaded, but I've seen this sorta movie several times, and the professor crowd seldom comes up with anything very good.
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Emily Kopp
Emily Kopp@emilyakopp·
What's more noteworthy: that mirror life could destroy the world, or that its leading scientists volunteered to stop research, prioritizing the future of humanity over money, prestige, & idle curiosity? After years of dealing with abusive gain-of-function virologists, it's the latter.
Caleb Watney@calebwatney

Major paper today on mirror bacteria and the risks to human, plant, and animal life. (Truly wild) substance aside, it's neat to see effectively ~all the top scientists in an area come together for an in-depth exploration like this with a call for future discussion.

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Tom Ellis
Tom Ellis@ProfTomEllis·
Please invest in my mirror sugar synthesis company. We promise only to ship to responsible mirror life forms.
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Keşfet

@buildacell @YouTube @medialab @colinleggphoto @BealesLab @EricTopol @ScienceMagazine @LoganTCollins