University of Minnesota researchers say SpudCell can feed, grow, copy DNA and divide.
MINNEAPOLIS, MN — University of Minnesota researchers have built a synthetic cell from nonliving chemical parts that can complete core steps of a cell life cycle, a result the team says marks a major advance in efforts to engineer life-like systems.
The project, called SpudCell, moves synthetic biology beyond earlier work that changed natural cells or placed synthetic DNA inside existing organisms. The researchers say their cell-like system can acquire resources, grow, copy its genetic material, divide and show selection across generations. The work is still an early research result, not a fully living organism or a finished technology, and several major engineering steps remain before such cells could be used in medicine or manufacturing.
Associate Professor Kate Adamala and Associate Professor Aaron Engelhart led the work with teams in the university’s College of Biological Sciences. Adamala said the project showed that some of the most basic behaviors linked to living cells can be rebuilt from chemistry. “We’ve replicated in chemistry what only used to be possible in biology: the complete set of behaviors of a cell,” Adamala said. The university announced the work July 1 after the researchers described the system in a paper titled “A Chemically Defined Synthetic Cell Capable of Growth and Replication.” The name SpudCell is a nod to Sputnik, the first artificial satellite, and to Adamala’s Minnesota roots.
SpudCell is not a natural bacterium and was not grown by modifying a living cell. It is built inside liposomes, tiny hollow spheres made from fatty molecules similar to those in cell membranes. Inside each liposome, the team placed a synthetic genome and a defined protein-making system. The genome is about 90,000 base pairs long and is split across seven DNA plasmids instead of one chromosome. The cell also uses a protein expression system made from 36 purified enzymes and ribosomes from E. coli. Researchers said that setup lets them know which parts are present and what each part is meant to do.
The system feeds through nearby feeder liposomes. SpudCell makes a membrane protein that helps connect those feeder liposomes to its own membrane. When the membranes fuse, SpudCell gains materials it needs to grow and keep its internal chemistry running. For division, the researchers used a design that avoids a cytoskeleton, the internal scaffold many natural cells use to divide. Instead, proteins gather on the membrane surface until physical stress helps split the liposome. The result is a lab-built system that can pass genetic material into offspring-like cells.
The researchers also tested whether a genetic advantage could spread through the synthetic system. They introduced a change that increased production of a fusion protein tied to feeding and division. Cells with that change grew faster and produced more offspring than the original version. After five generations, the faster-growing type had outcompeted the starting cells, with the advantage becoming stronger when nutrients were scarce. Scientists described that result as selection in a fully synthetic chemical system, though not full natural evolution because the useful change was introduced by the researchers.
The genome size is one reason the work drew attention. Scientists had estimated that a minimal genome for a living cell might be about 113,000 base pairs. SpudCell’s 90,000-base-pair genome falls below that estimate, though it is not a self-sustaining cell in the way a bacterium is. Human DNA contains about 3 billion base pairs. Earlier synthetic biology milestones included cells with synthetic genomes placed into natural cell bodies. SpudCell differs because the researchers assembled its working system from defined chemical parts rather than starting with a living cell chassis.
Important limits remain. SpudCell depends on carefully controlled lab conditions, feeder liposomes and externally supplied molecular machinery. It cannot yet make all the parts it needs, including ribosomes, and it does not reproduce indefinitely. The seven plasmids also need to be consolidated into a more stable genome if the system is to become easier to engineer. Adamala said the next challenge is making the platform more robust and practical. “This work is just the beginning,” she said. “We are showing it’s possible to engineer the basic functions of the cell.”
The team and outside collaborators are also launching Biotic, a public-benefit research and engineering institution meant to create shared standards for synthetic cell work. The goal is to make SpudCell a common chassis that researchers can test, modify and improve across laboratories. Adamala said the field needs open modules and shared methods because the work has been hard to scale. She said some collaborators had to travel for in-person demonstrations to get techniques working, a process she said is not suitable for a growing engineering field.
Researchers say future versions of synthetic cells could help make medicines, materials and industrial chemicals in gentler conditions than some current processes require. They also say the work may help scientists study how nonliving matter can organize into systems with life-like behavior. For now, SpudCell remains a fragile prototype that shows several core cell functions can be combined in one defined system. Whether it should be called alive remains unsettled, and the researchers have stressed that it is not yet an autonomous organism.
The next milestone is independent testing and further engineering of the platform after the paper’s release in July 2026. Researchers plan to improve genome stability, add molecular machinery and build shared protocols through Biotic as other labs review and attempt to reproduce the work.
Author note: Last updated July 5, 2026.