Researchers have rebuilt a yeast chromosome, deleting superfluous genetic material not needed for survival. Such designer organisms could be the future of biotechnology. Are designer humans next? Twelve years ago, researchers created the first ever synthetic virus. About five years later, they rebuilt the complete genome of a bacterium. Now synthetic biologists have gone a step further. Jef Boeke and his team at the New York University Langone Medical Center have synthesized one of the […]