What have scientists actually built so far?
Researchers have created synthetic cells that can grow, divide, and even pass on genetic information to their offspring—key hallmarks of life. In a 2024 study, scientists built artificial cells containing a bacterial DNA segregation system (ParMRC) that successfully moved a gene (eGFP) to opposite poles of the cell before division. After the cell split, both daughter cells contained the gene and could produce the corresponding protein, demonstrating inheritance of genetic information [6]. This is a major step because it shows that a synthetic cell can mimic the fundamental process of passing DNA to the next generation.
Other work has focused on building the cell's outer boundary—the membrane—which is essential for life. A 2021 review highlights that chemists can now synthesize lipid membranes from scratch and even drive membrane growth and division using chemical reactions [4]. Similarly, a 2022 review catalogs artificial cells made from lipids, polymers, and other materials that can perform functions like energy production, growth, and movement [2]. These achievements show that individual subsystems of a living cell can be reconstructed in the lab.
What is the biggest remaining challenge?
The central problem is that no one has yet built a synthetic cell that can do everything on its own—grow, divide, manage its own metabolism, and evolve—without external help. A 2023 review on self-regenerating artificial cells states bluntly that to create a life-like cell, researchers must be able to regulate and control reproduction autonomously, which has not been achieved [8]. In the 2024 DNA segregation study, for example, the artificial cells still needed an external trigger (osmotic pressure and laser irradiation) to actually split into two [6]. They cannot divide spontaneously like a natural cell.
Another major obstacle is the complexity of the cell membrane. Natural cell membranes contain hundreds of different lipid types and embedded proteins that work together to control shape, transport, and signaling. A 2025 review notes that while simple synthetic membranes can be made from a single lipid, it is unclear how many different lipids are actually needed to support all the essential functions of a self-reproducing cell [3]. This uncertainty means researchers cannot yet design a membrane that is both simple enough to build and complex enough to sustain life.
How close are we to a truly living synthetic cell?
Most experts agree that a fully autonomous, evolving synthetic cell is still years or decades away, but the path forward is becoming clearer. A 2024 review on DNA-empowered synthetic cells envisions future systems where synthetic cells communicate with each other and with living cells, but it describes these as future directions, not current reality [1]. A 2023 review on the origin of life from a maker's perspective emphasizes that current research is converging on reproducing the emergence of minimal life by teasing out how complexity and evolution can arise from a set of essential components—but it also notes that none of life's essential features require the full complexity of modern cells [9].
The field is actively working on integrating the pieces. For example, a 2021 review on synthetic cell communication reports that scientists have already engineered synthetic cells that can send and receive chemical signals from natural living cells [7]. This shows that the gap between synthetic and natural cells is narrowing. However, as a 2021 perspective on membrane mimetic chemistry points out, we are still using simplified chemical systems to mimic the remarkable properties of living membranes, and the goal of a fully synthetic cell remains elusive [5]. In short, scientists have built many of the parts, but assembling them into a self-sustaining, evolving whole is the remaining grand challenge.
About These Sources
This answer is built on 9 peer-reviewed studies — published from 2021 to 2025, 3 from 2024 or later, 6 in Q1 journals, collectively cited 507 times — selected as the most relevant from 11 studies that passed quality screening, drawn from 60 papers retrieved from a database of over 500 million.
Sources used in this answer
DNA-empowered synthetic cells as minimalistic life forms
This 2024 review describes how DNA nanotechnology can be used to build synthetic cells with complex behaviors like motility and information processing, but positions these as future directions rather than current achievements.
Artificial Cells: Past, Present and Future
This 2022 review catalogs artificial cells made from various materials (lipids, polymers, etc.) that can perform functions like energy production, growth, and division, and highlights their therapeutic applications.
Exploring lipid diversity and minimalism to define membrane requirements for synthetic cells
This 2025 review emphasizes the uncertainty about how many different lipid types are needed to support a self-reproducing synthetic cell, noting that natural membranes are far more complex than current synthetic ones.
Synthesis of lipid membranes for artificial cells
This 2021 review examines chemical strategies to synthesize lipid membranes for artificial cells, including driving membrane formation and function through bioorthogonal ligations and reconstitution of biochemical pathways.
Membrane Mimetic Chemistry in Artificial Cells
This 2021 perspective argues that membrane mimetic chemistry is essential for developing artificial cells and that simplified chemical systems can mimic living membranes, but a fully synthetic cell remains elusive.
Investigation of artificial cells containing the Par system for bacterial plasmid segregation and inheritance mimicry
This 2024 study demonstrates that artificial cells containing the ParMRC system can segregate eGFP DNA to opposite poles, divide into two daughter cells (with external triggers), and express the protein, mimicking bacterial plasmid inheritance.
Toward synthetic life: Biomimetic synthetic cell communication
This 2021 review summarizes progress in engineering communication between synthetic and natural cells, showing that synthetic cells can send and receive chemical signals from living cells.
A Self‐Regenerating Artificial Cell, that is One Step Closer to Living Cells: Challenges and Perspectives
This 2023 review on self-regenerating artificial cells states that to create a life-like cell, researchers must be able to regulate and control reproduction autonomously, which has not yet been achieved.
Origin of Life from a Maker's Perspective–Focus on Protocellular Compartments in Bottom‐Up Synthetic Biology
This 2023 review on the origin of life from a maker's perspective notes that current research is converging on reproducing the emergence of minimal life by combining compartmentation, metabolism, and growth/division cycles.