Scientists have built a cell from the ground up

Illustration: Andreas Samuelsson

Jul 1st 2026|6 min read

THEIR MAKERS call them “SpudCells.” Unglamorous as that sounds, it is still somewhat flattering. A potato is solid, robust and purposeful. The cells made in Kate Adamala’s lab at the University of Minnesota are, in her own words, “wimpy” and “helpless”. They have no metabolism, instead depending on a bespoke environment for nearly everything they need. They do nothing but follow the programmes for growth and reproduction written into their seven loops of designer DNA.