Synthesizing a living being from scratch, that is the ambition of the synthetic biologyA scientific field that is advancing rapidly and already showing concrete results. This is particularly true of viruses, the simplest organisms (to the point that there is still no consensus on their status as living beings), and therefore the easiest to produce. The most recent example was presented on January 23, 2026, in the journal PNAS, by researchers from New England Biolabs and Yale University, in the United States, using an innovative method.
This bacteriophage would strengthen our arsenal against... antibiotic-resistant bacteriaTo better understand their method and the potential uses of this synthetic virus, Science and Future discussed with the two study directors, biochemist Greg Lohman of New England Biolabs and virologist Paul Turner of Yale University.
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