2026-07-01 20:00A Cell Built From Scratch Just Grew and Divided β Scientists Call It a Watershed Moment for BiologyKate Adamala's team at the University of Minnesota built a synthetic cell β nicknamed SpudCell β entirely from non-living chemical parts. For the first time, a bottom-up cell completed a full cycle: growth, DNA replication, and division. Thirty-six purified enzymes, a 90,000-base-pair genome, and a lipid membrane. No cytoskeleton, no living donor. Just chemistry, coaxed into life-like behavior.