Chemists Synthesize Artificial Cell Membrane
ScienceDaily (Jan. 25, 2012) — Chemists have taken an important step in making artificial life forms from scratch. Using a novel chemical reaction, they have created self-assembling cell membranes, the structural envelopes that contain and support the reactions required for life.
Neal Devaraj, assistant professor of chemistry at the University of California, San Diego, and Itay Budin, a graduate student at Harvard University, report their success in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
“One of our long term, very ambitious goals is to try to make an artificial cell, a synthetic living unit from the bottom up — to make a living organism from non-living molecules that have never been through or touched a living organism,” Devaraj said. “Presumably this occurred at some point in the past. Otherwise life wouldn’t exist.”
Haven’t they been able to make liposomes for decades? I am unimpressed.
Also I would hardly say what they have made is a cell membrane. Once they get the cytoskeletal supports and integral membrane proteins, then I’ll be satisfied.
(via realfakescientist)
