If you think programming your clock radio is hard, try reprogramming life itself.

If you think programming your clock radio is hard, try reprogramming life itself.

Dr. Drew Endy, Professor of Bioengineering Stanford University

The Human Genome Project gave us the ability to read nature's instruction manual – DNA -- like words in a book. But the real opportunities, scientists say, lie in our ability to not only read genetic code, but to write it, then build it. Synthetic biology – a new frontier in bioengineering – works because biological creatures are, in essence, programmable manufacturing systems. Endy wants to take control of that system to produce cells that can automatically scan for chemical signals of cancer and produce a drug that will target the cancer directly. In essence, Endy, a leader in the field of synthetic biology and one of the White House's Champions of Change wants to revolutionize the way we detect and combat disease.