Gonville & Caius College Fellow Dr Julian Sale is collaborating on an ambitious new research project, SynHG (Synthetic Human Genome), which is aiming to develop the foundational and scalable tools, technology and methods needed to synthesise human genomes. 

Through programmable synthesis of genetic material we will unlock a deeper understanding of life, leading to profound impacts on biotechnology, potentially accelerating the development of safe, targeted, cell-based therapies, and opening entire new fields of research in human health. Achieving reliable genome design and synthesis – i.e. engineering cells to have specific functions – will be a major milestone in modern biology.

Dr Sale, the Francis Crick College Lecturer and a Group Leader in the Division of Protein & Nucleic Acid Chemistry at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, says: “The ability to synthesise large segments of human chromosomes — or even entire genomes — will enable us to test current theories about how genes and other genetic elements interact to govern genome function with unprecedented precision and scale. The insights gained from this research will pave the way for designing and building safe and effective cell-based therapies with the potential to revolutionise biotechnology and medicine.”

The five-year multi-centre research project – supported by £10m funding from Wellcome – involves researchers from the Universities of Cambridge, Kent, Manchester, Oxford, and Imperial College London. SynHG is led by Professor Jason Chin of the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology; he was also recently announced as the founding Director of the Generative Biology Institute at the Ellison Institute of Technology, Oxford, and a Professor at the University of Oxford.

A dedicated social science programme, led by Professor Joy Zhang of the Centre for Global Science and Epistemic Justice at the University of Kent, runs throughout the project alongside the scientific development. The programme will work with civil society partners around the world to actively explore, assess and respond to the socio-ethical implications of tools and technologies developed by SynHG.

Since the completion of the Human Genome Project at the start of the century, researchers have sought the ability to write our genome from scratch. Unlike genome editing, genome synthesis allows for changes at a greater scale and density, with more accuracy and efficiency, and will lead to the determination of causal relationships between the organisation of the human genome and how our body functions. Synthetic genomes have the potential to open up brand new areas of research in creating targeted cell-based therapies, virus-resistant tissue transplantation and extensions may even enable the engineering of plant species with new properties, including the ability to withstand harsh climate.

To date, scientists have successfully developed synthetic genomes for microbes such as E. coli. The field of synthetic genomics has accelerated in recent times, and advances in machine learning, data science and AI showing promise, with synthesised DNA becoming more widely available. However, today’s technology is not able to produce large, more complex sections of genetic material, such as found in crops, animals and humans.

The research team are focusing on developing the tools and technology to synthesise large genomes exemplified by the human genome. Focusing on the human genome, as opposed to other model organisms such as mice, will allow researchers to more quickly make transformative discoveries in human biology and health.

Read the full media release on the Wellcome website.

Main image: Wellcome.org