Dr. Adamala explains that her spud cells are synthetic cells constructed within a lipid bubble, using ribosomes and tRNA purified from E. coli. The next major challenge is ribogenesis—creating new ribosomes inside the synthetic cells. She emphasizes that life is not a binary state but a continuum, and that spud cells, while capable of selection, cannot yet evolve spontaneously without artificial mutations. The milestone is a proof of concept, but scaling for therapeutic use is bottlenecked by inefficient replication. Crucially, she clarifies that spud cells pose no biosecurity risk, unlike mirror life research, which she helped pause globally in 2024. Spud cells are controllable with antibiotics and vulnerable to natural predators, making them safe for further development.