A China-led international research team has released Asia's first 10-year technology roadmap for synthetic cells, outlining key scientific challenges and development goals for the emerging field.

The roadmap was published on Tuesday in the journal Nature Biotechnology by more than 100 laboratories from six Asian countries. The initiative was led by researcher Liu Chenli, president of the Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Synthetic cells refer to artificially constructed single-cell systems built from scratch using biological molecules such as phospholipids, proteins and DNA. Scientists describe the effort as one of the most challenging goals in life sciences, as it seeks not simply to replicate natural life, but to create artificial cells capable of carrying out basic life functions.

The newly released roadmap identifies four major challenges in building synthetic cells: maintaining continuous metabolism, enabling autonomous ribosome regeneration, establishing design rules for biological modules, and coordinating complex spatial and temporal mechanisms inside cells.

To address these challenges, researchers proposed building an AI-powered "biofoundry" system. Under the proposed "central factory plus distributed workstations" model, a unified platform would produce standardized biological materials and reagents, while research teams across different countries collaborate on design, synthesis and testing.

The roadmap also sets out two major development stages for the next decade. The first stage aims to create primitive cells with stable phospholipid vesicle structures. The second stage targets the development of autonomous cells capable of endogenous ribosome regeneration and more than 10 continuous and coordinated growth-and-division cycles.

Researchers say the roadmap marks an important step toward moving synthetic cells from simply "functioning" to eventually becoming capable of self-replication, while also promoting greater international cooperation in the field.