This Startup Is Making—and Programming—Human Cells

 Creating bespoke cells could transform testing and help develop new treatments for diseases such as Alzheimer’s.

    PHOTOGRAPH: BORIS SV/GETTY IMAGES

OUR CELLS ARE packed with unrealized potential. Almost every human cell contains the genetic information it needs to become any other kind of cell. A skin cell, for example, has the same genes as a muscle cell or a brain neuron, but in each type of cell only some of those genes are switched on, while others remain silent. It’s a little like making different meals out of the same ingredients cupboard. If we understand the recipe behind each type of cell, then theoretically we can use this information to engineer every single cell type in the human body.

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Matt Reynolds is a senior writer at WIRED, where he covers climate, food, and biodiversity. Before that, he was a technology journalist at New Scientist magazine. His first book, The Future of Food: How to Feed the Planet Without Destroying It, was published in 2020. Reynolds is a graduate of... Read more