( CNN ) -- Vaccines that can be quickly produced to fight evolving diseases such as AIDS , flu and the common cold . Algae that can be engineered to turn carbon dioxide into gasoline and diesel fuel . These are among the innovations that could result from the research of J. Craig Venter 's team , which announced last week that it had created `` the first cell that is totally controlled by a synthetic chromosome . '' Venter , a leader in the sequencing of the human genome , also hinted at another , more basic and less immediately practical , reason for creating synthetic life . He explained that scientists had embedded in the genetic code of the new cell three quotations , including this one from physicist Richard Feynman : `` What I can not build , I can not understand . '' To understand life really , the quotation suggests , it 's necessary to know how to create it . In a video announcing the breakthrough that was posted at TED.com , Venter describes a 15-year-long quest that ended with creation of `` the first self-replicating species that we 've had on the planet whose parent is a computer . '' Scientists did it by designing a digital code on a computer , building a chromosome `` from four bottles of chemicals , '' assembling the chromosome in yeast cells and transplanting it into the cell of a bacterium , creating a new species . For more about Venter , click here . Venter said before the work was done , a team of experts conducted a two-year study of the ethics of creating life in a laboratory . He said the White House and other government officials have been briefed about the work -- and that White House officials favored open publication of the research , rather than deciding to classify it . The work of Venter 's team has been widely hailed . The Economist said it creates the possibility of demonstrating `` mankind 's mastery over nature in a way more profound than even the detonation of the first atomic bomb . '' Yet it warned , `` No one now knows how easy it would be to turbo-charge an existing human pathogen , or take one that infects another type of animal and assist its passage over the species barrier . We will soon find out , though . '' Venter pointed to the `` extensive work that we 've done , asking for ethical review , pushing the envelope on that side as well as the technical side , this has been broadly discussed in the scientific community , in the policy community and at the highest levels of the federal government . '' `` Even with this announcement , as we did in 2003 -- that work was funded by the Department of Energy -- so the work was reviewed at the level of the White House , trying to decide whether to classify the work or publish it . And they came down on the side of open publication , which is the right approach . We 've briefed the White House . We 've briefed members of Congress . We 've tried to take and push the policy issues in parallel with the scientific advances . '' For another talk by Venter , click here . He said the three quotations were embedded in the genetic code to help make sure that the new synthetic form of life could n't be mistaken for regular life . Scientists inserted the names of more than 40 authors of the research but wanted to add something `` more profound than just signing the work . '' In addition to the Feynman quote , the code contains this quote from James Joyce : `` To live , to err , to fall , to triumph , and to recreate life out of life . '' And this one , from `` American Prometheus , '' a biography of scientist Robert Oppenheimer : `` See things , not as they are , but as they might be . ''
Scott 's team announces creation of a cell controlled by a synthetic chromosome . J. Craig has said it 's the first self - aware species whose computer is a computer . Science : Work holds promise for new vaccines and ways to use carbon dioxide productively . He says creating life is key to understanding life .