Kate Adamala

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

[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:
https://t.co/B4eXp46K84
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[Simone Giaveri @simone_giaveri]

Very happy to share my @buildacell seminar ! 😎
Thank you very much @KateAdamala for hosting me !

Build-a-Cell seminar Simone Giaveri : Toward self-sustaining minimal cells
The video link is below 🎥⬇️

https://t.co/QAl6Y22glA via @YouTube

[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 👇

[Kate Adamala @KateAdamala]

@colinleggphoto @BealesLab @EricTopol @ScienceMagazine That kind of sounds like cane toads in Australia. 🐸

[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.

[Kate Adamala @KateAdamala]

@BealesLab @The_Angu @EricTopol @ScienceMagazine No argument from me on that. Some of those headlines made me cringe. 🤦‍♀️

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[Kate Adamala @KateAdamala]

@BealesLab @The_Angu @EricTopol @ScienceMagazine Neither is my preferred option actually. But I'd rather have a Netflix series than another pandemic, if we have to choose one.

[Kate Adamala @KateAdamala]

@BealesLab @The_Angu @EricTopol @ScienceMagazine Dialogue is to change minds. On both sides.
Having an opinion doesn't, for most of us, mean we're "entrenched" in it.

[Kate Adamala @KateAdamala]

@BealesLab @The_Angu @EricTopol @ScienceMagazine Honestly this is one where I'd rather have people distrusting forever. No mirror life of any kind is a good news.

[Kate Adamala @KateAdamala]

@Mnemomeme @anderssandberg @kesvelt @jasoncrawford Please see Chapter 4 of the technical report, particularly 4.1 and 4.2.

[Kate Adamala @KateAdamala]

@The_Angu @BealesLab @EricTopol @ScienceMagazine Hope now!
Strike 2 for the green guys would be too much.

[Kate Adamala @KateAdamala]

@slavov_n It's kind of sad that's newsworthy, instead of just normal part of science. 🤷‍♀️

[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.

[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.

[Kate Adamala @KateAdamala]

@pricklyresearch @emilyakopp Those blasted professors. They congregate in a crowd and are up to no good.

[Kate Adamala @KateAdamala]

@emilyakopp It's kind of sad that common sense is actually the news.

[Kate Adamala @KateAdamala]

@ProfTomEllis 🤞