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Venter replicated the DNA of a bacterium in 2008 and in 2010 announced the creation of a self-replicating synthetic genome, or DNA, in a bacterium taken from a different species, spurring a bioethics investigation of the developing field of synthetic biology by then-President Obama that identified limited risks.

This flexibility is crucial for developing nanoscale robotic systems that can perform tasks in synthetic biology, nanomedicine and materials science.

He co-led the study with Rosa Martinez Corral, a former post-doctoral researcher in his lab who now leads a research group in systems and synthetic biology at CRG.

"The production of the potent vaccine adjuvant QS-21 in yeast highlights the power of synthetic biology to address both major environmental, as well as human, health challenges," said former UC Berkeley postdoctoral fellow Yuzhong Liu, first author of the paper and now an assistant professor at Scripps Research in La Jolla, California.

"I am gratified that synthetic biology has come so far that we can now build a pathway to produce a molecule like QS-21. It's a testament to how far the field has progressed in the last two decades."