From Reading DNA to Writing It: Andrew Hessel on the Age of Programming Life
The Long Now Foundation
In a five-minute Ignite talk for the Long Now Foundation, Andrew Hessel argues that biology is turning into an engineering discipline. Life can now be written as well as read, and he believes that once writing DNA becomes as cheap and accessible as reading it, cell engineering will become "a new branch of software engineering." In his view, no other technology will change the world more.
Why a Tinkerer Turned to Cells
Hessel opens with his own story. As a child he wanted to know how everything worked and took apart everything he could get his hands on, except the cat. He settled on cell biology and genetics because, as he puts it, no one knew how life worked. It was a mystery.
He studied bacteria such as E. coli. It is single-celled and clearly alive, but Hessel stresses that it is not simple, and that organisms like it have been around for billions of years. Like all cells, it carries a DNA-based genome, which Hessel describes as "a ticker tape of molecular instructions telling the cell what to be." The key consequence for his argument is that if you change the genetic code, you change the organism.
DNA Can Be Written, Not Just Read
Most people know DNA can be read, or sequenced. Hessel points out that far fewer know it can also be written, or synthesized. Writing out a gene lets you make a protein, and writing out a genome lets you make an organism.
He credits Dr. Eckard Wimmer as the first to do this. Wimmer wrote out a genome for a virus. Hessel notes that a virus isn't really alive. Wimmer himself called it "a chemical with a life cycle" and even provided an empirical formula for it.
For Hessel, the age of programming life really began in 2010. That year the first cellular genome was synthesized, assembled, and "booted up." The media called the resulting organism Synthia. Because its genome was completely synthetic, the researchers could build in Easter eggs: a website, researcher names, an email address, and some choice quotes. Every single bacterium carries those watermarks in its DNA. Hessel's summary of the shift: "life science has become life engineering."
The Gulf Between Read and Write
Hessel then turns to why progress has been slow. He says that in the 15 years since Synthia, only a handful of synthetic organisms have been booted up. One reason he gives is the huge technological gulf between reading and writing DNA. Sequencing a genome is fast and cheap. Synthesizing and booting one up is, by his account, at least a thousand times more expensive and time-consuming.
As a result, today's synthetic biology labs are capital-intensive and filled with robots. Hessel argues that this limits who can access these laboratories and which projects can be attempted.
The Computing Analogy: From Cray-1 to Personal Computers
To show where he thinks this is heading, Hessel draws a parallel with early computing. He cites the Cray-1 supercomputer from 1975, which cost $8 million, so that only about a hundred units were ever sold. A few years later, cheap microprocessors made personal computers affordable and accessible. Hessel calls this a game changer. The early machines weren't powerful and were "just toys," but they seeded a new generation of programmers who went on to change the world.
The biological equivalent, he says, is starting to appear in the form of biochips. He showed two examples, a DNA sequencer and a DNA synthesizer, and described them as a completely new branch of chip-making that could change biotechnology.
What Biochips Could Enable
Hessel lays out several possibilities, all framed as things these chips could do:
- power desktop DNA sequencers in homes
- put viral detectors in phones
- make printers for vaccines, medicines, and even organisms
He singles out organism printers as especially transformative. With them, he says, you could literally download an organism and print it. You could also "fax" organisms from one location to another, whether from space to Earth or from a patient's bedside to a doctor. The broader effect, in his framing, would be to make genetic and cell engineering "just a new branch of software engineering."
"Hello World" for a Cell
Continuing the programming metaphor, Hessel suggests that the "hello world" of cell engineering is making an E. coli glow or blink. He describes it as not a complicated experiment and one that kids could do, but also as a gateway to much more sophisticated programming.
He contrasts this with semiconductors. A chip fab costs billions of dollars to set up and operate, and he argues that cell engineering will move much faster. His reasoning is that cells will advance at the rate we can write new genetic software. Today that means microbes. As DNA printers become better and more sophisticated, he expects plants and animals to follow.
Disruption, Democratization, and a Closing Caution
Hessel concludes that biotech is about to be fundamentally disrupted and democratized, with huge implications for humanity and for the planet. He states his belief that no other technology will change the world more than programming life. He sees it providing tools for sustainability, for addressing climate change, for curing diseases, and more.
He closes by quoting Stewart Brand: "We are as gods and might as well get good at it." As we enter the age of programming life, Hessel says, he can't think of wiser words to keep top of mind.
As a kid I wanted to know how everything worked, and I took everything apart that I could get my hands on, except the cat. I settled on cell biology and genetics because no one knew how life worked. It was a mystery.
I studied bacteria like this E. coli. It's single-celled, it's clearly alive, but it's not simple. In fact, this organism has been around for billions of years. Like all cells, it has a DNA-based genome, which is a ticker tape of molecular instructions telling the cell what to be. If you change the genetic code, you actually change the organism.
Now, most people know that DNA can be read, or sequenced, but most people don't know that DNA can actually be written, or synthesized. If you write out a gene, you can make a protein. If you write out a genome, you can make an organism.
And the first person to do this was Dr. Eckard Wimmer. He wrote out a genome for a virus, but a virus isn't really alive. In fact, Wimmer himself called it a chemical with a life cycle, and even provided an empirical formula.
The age of programming life really started when the first cellular genome was synthesized, assembled, and booted up in 2010. The media called this organism Synthia. Now, Synthia had a completely synthetic genome, and so the researchers were able to incorporate Easter eggs into the genome: a website, researcher names, an email address, and some choice quotes. Every single bacterium carries those watermarks in its DNA.
Life science has become life engineering, but it's still really new. In the 15 years since Synthia, only a handful of synthetic organisms have been booted up.
And one of the reasons for this is that there's a huge technological gulf between DNA read and DNA write. Sequencing a genome is fast and cheap. Synthesizing and booting up a genome is at least a thousand times more expensive and time-consuming. Synthetic biology labs today are capital intensive, filled with robots, and this really limits the access to these laboratories and the projects that can be done.
And this is reminiscent of the early days of computing. This is a Cray-1 supercomputer from 1975. It cost $8 million, and so only about a hundred units were ever sold. But just a few years later, cheap microprocessors became available, making personal computers affordable and accessible, and this was a game changer. They weren't powerful, they were just toys, but they seeded a new generation of programmers that went on to change the world.
And today we're starting to see the appearance of biochips. On the left is a DNA sequencer; on the right is a DNA synthesizer. And this is a completely new branch of chipmaking that could change biotechnologies. It could power desktop DNA sequencers in our homes, it could put viral detectors in our phones, and it could make printers for vaccines and medicines and even organisms.
And organism printers would be game changers. You'd literally be able to download an organism and print it. You'd be able to fax organisms from location A to location B, whether it's from space to Earth or bedside to doctor. And it would make genetic engineering, cell engineering, just a new branch of software engineering.
The hello world of engineering a cell, I think, is just making an E. coli glow or blink. Not a complicated experiment, one kids could do, but it's a gateway into much more sophisticated programming.
A chip fab like this costs billions of dollars to set up and operate. Cell engineering is going to go so much faster, and this is why: cells will advance at the rate that we can write new genetic software. Microbes today, but as DNA printers get better and more sophisticated, plants and animals tomorrow.
Biotech is about to be fundamentally disrupted and democratized, and this is going to have huge implications for humanity and for planet Earth, because there is no other technology than programming life that is going to change the world more. It will give us the tools for sustainability, for climate change, for curing diseases, and more.
Stewart Brand said famously, "We are as gods and might as well get good at it." And as we enter the age of programming life, I don't think there's any wiser words to keep top of mind. Thank you.
[Applause]
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