Scientists from six Asian countries have launched an ambitious 10-year effort to build synthetic cells from non-living molecules, marking the region's first coordinated push to create artificial single-celled life. The roadmap, published on May 26 in Nature Biotechnology and led by the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, was developed through the SynCell Asia Initiative with more than 100 scientists from China, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia.

Building a single-celled organism from scratch using phospholipids, proteins, DNA, and other biological macromolecules, is one of the most challenging scientific goals in life science. Achieving this goal would not only deepen our understanding of "what is life" but also enable programmable, customizable functional cells for biomanufacturing and biomedicine, driving systemic change across fundamental science and biotechnology.

Over the past several decades, global efforts have taken shape in Europe and the United States. However, while individual functional modules have advanced considerably, it remains a global challenge to systemically integrate these modules into a fully functional synthetic cell in space and time. In 2023, scientists from six Asian countries formally established the SynCell Asia Initiative. Through SynCell Asia Workshops, they developed a scientific framework and action agenda rooted in Asian perspectives and regional strengths.

The roadmap in this study identifies four core challenges in building a synthetic cell, including metabolic continuity, ribosome autonomy, modular design rules and spatiotemporal coordination. To address these challenges, the roadmap advocates a "central factory plus distributed workstations" model: standardized synthetic cell chassis and reagents are prepared centrally and distributed to participating labs, forming a closed-loop Design-Build-Test-Learn (DBTL) cycle.

Single-syncell omics using automated platforms to collect genome, transcriptome, proteome, metabolome, and quantitative imaging data at single-cell resolution, will provide high-dimensional data for machine learning models. Also, it is proposed to combine "white-box" mechanistic models with "black-box" data-driven models to better predict and control synthetic cell behavior.

The roadmap has a two-stage, 10-year target. The first stage is ProtoCell (Years 1–5) which is a stable phospholipid vesicle with a minimal genome (≥200 genes), ≥90% of proteins expressed by a cell-free transcription-translation system, and endogenous synthesis of key metabolites. A "digital twin" of the synthetic cell will also be developed to explore how mechanical and biochemical signals coordinate division.

The second stage is AutoCell (Years 6–10) which will achieve endogenous, genome-encoded ribosome regeneration, replacing the external cell-free expression system and enabling true self-replication. The AutoCell must complete ≥10 continuous, coordinated growth-division cycles, evolve under environmental selection pressures, and form synthetic cell communities with emergent behaviors such as material exchange and division of labor.

The SynCell Asia roadmap leverages deep complementarities in technological capabilities across Asian countries, creating a novel model of cross-border collaboration, shared infrastructure, and open standards. This model will transform synthetic cell research from fragmented, modular exploration into systematic, standardized, collaborative construction.