Table 1.

Challenges synthetic biologists will have to deal with

The ten grand challenges of synthetic life
1. Reaching a consensus on synthetic and streamlined genomes
2. Cooking from scratch (bottom-up)
3. Learning from nature: naturally evolved reduced minimal genomes
4. Refine and make reality the notion of biological chassis
5. Manufacturing engineered biosystems
6. Overcoming physical and chemical constraints
7. From models to cells and back
8. Replication and reproduction
9. Towards an integrated design strategy of synthetic organisms
10. Coupling scientific development and public opinion information