Genome Project-write (GP-write) is an open international research project that plans to reduce costs of engineering and testing large genomes in cell lines for the purpose of understanding the blueprint of life. GP-write includes whole genome engineering of human cell lines and other organisms that have relevance to agriculture and public health.
A few weeks prior to the Science publication, a meeting that was closed to the press was held in May 2016 by George Church and collaborators along with 130 invited scientists, lawyers, entrepreneurs and government officials which discussed the feasibility and implementation of a project to synthesize large genomes in vitro. The private nature of the meeting was met with some criticism, with Laurie Zoloth of Northwestern University an Drew Endy of Stanford UniversityStanford University publishing an article in Cosmos documenting their disapproval.
