The synthetic DNA resembled the original DNA of the bacteria. Does this make the discovery less important? No. Creating such a large bacterial genome in a laboratory still is a large technological challenge. Have these US scientists created new life? No, absolutely not. The scientists used a natural mechanism. This discovery may be used for a great number of applications: advancements in the production of proteins used to produce medications, combating oil pollution more effectively and improved methods for capturing CO2.

It's not surprising that the entire would wanted to know more about this discovery. Friday the 21 of May reporters from the RTL4 asked me to explain about this new discovery in their seven thirty news bulletin, and they also asked whether it would be possible to film the interview in our brand new Cell Observatory. A large number of scientists of the LIC and other institutes at Leiden University have been introducing smaller DNA pieces into bacteria and human cells, similar to what to Craig Venter did, but much more small scale in terms of the size of the DNA involved. By doing this we are for example trying to find out which DNA particles deter the development of growing cancer cells. My colleague Dr Claude Barckendorf and a number of students Life Sience and Technology were working on these experiments on May 21st.”