WritingLife launches to grapple with the ethics of synthetic DNA

The spiral helix structure of DNA is instantly recognisable. It holds a powerful place in the public imagination, reinforcing the centrality of genes in concepts of identity, family, health, nature and life itself. DNA is commonly referred to as a 'blueprint' that encodes the immutable essence of what we are.

In recent years, it has become possible to create small strands of DNA in the laboratory: rather than being derived from living organisms, this DNA can be 'printed' from scratch, line by line. This gives us new powers to create genetic sequences with no evolutionary counterparts. While the complexity of designing a functional gene from scratch is beyond any human capability, with AI-enabled design and modelling, new horizons are opening up. It is already possible to order bespoke DNA sequences online!

On 6 November 2025, the European Research Council announced that it would fund our groundbreaking new collaborative research project, hosted at the University of Oslo, with partners in Spain, Australia, Sweden and the UK. The project, called WritingLife, focuses on the ethical implications of creating synthetic DNA (synDNA).

The impact of synDNA will be felt far beyond the laboratory. AI-enabled synDNA is already being advocated and/or implemented in a variety of contexts, including data storage, the creation of modified embryos for research, and 'assisted evolution' to enable organisms to withstand climate change.

Since synDNA outputs could result in novel organisms, we are facing a potential future where AI-designed constructs could spill over into the living world. Conversely, we can harvest biological organisms to create new bio-artefacts and products. SynDNA has the potential to impact every area of human interaction with biological systems.

Existing regulatory and ethical frameworks tend to reinforce the assumption that genes are internal, natural, and private. All of this is called into question by the advent of synDNA.

The WritingLife project will create a dynamic interdisciplinary research hub, incorporating expertise from philosophy, embryology, and conservation biology. Our goal is to develop a comprehensive account of the moral status of synDNA and formulate policies and ethical frameworks guiding the creation and use of synDNA constructs in research and conservation.

The project's ultimate output will be The SynDNA Report – a set of recommendations and guidelines based on the philosophical and ethical analysis undertaken by WritingLife.

Leading the WritingLife team, I will be joined by two internationally recognised scholars: Dr Adrian Villalba, an embryologist specialising in the mechanisms of early embryonic development, and Dr Karen Filbee-Dexter, a conservation biologist who works on the impacts of climate change on vulnerable marine ecosystems. The WritingLife team also includes legal scholars, experts in the philosophy of family and kinship, and philosophy of medicine and biology.

The use of synDNA to combat climate change or create synthetic embryos for 'ethical' research signifies a new frontier in the encroachment of human control over biology. This control now goes beyond merely selecting and modifying biological organisms to encompass designing and creating them from scratch.

Our relationship with organisms that we have created in this way is profoundly new. Should we be concerned that the human tendency to instrumentalise, commodify or even abuse the natural world, has now extended to the very essence of life itself? Or should we welcome this new opportunity to move towards a more constructed, more consciously chosen future with synthetic DNA?

As part of our research, WritingLife will host public events and debates, and publish articles aimed at the general public. We want to bring these questions and debates into the public domain, to ensure that we do not walk blindfold into an unchosen synthetic future.

WritingLife takes on the task of ensuring that the use of synDNA is critically evaluated not just as a technical solution to problems such as data storage, embryo research or conservation, but in its broader capacity to challenge the ways that human beings relate to nature, biology and life itself.