At first Amgen tried using genetic engineering to create organisms that would extract oil from shale, man-made proteins that would make chickens grow faster and new specialty chemicals such as a cloned indigo, a substitute for the natural dye used to color blue jeans.

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Voigt is at the forefront of a group of young researchers working to deliver on the profound promise of genetic engineering: Rebuilding living organisms to fight disease, make bio-fuels and solve industrial problems.

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One worry is that the new science of synthetic biology, the souped-up form of genetic engineering that involves radically modifying organisms or even someday designing them from scratch, is both more promising and more dangerous that the technology that has been around for two decades and gave birth to Amgen, Genencor, and Monsanto.

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One worry is that the new science of synthetic biology, the souped-up form of genetic engineering that involves radically modifying organisms or even someday designing them from scratch, is both more promising and more dangerous that the technology that has been around for two decades and gave birth to Amgen (nasdaq: AMGN - news - people ), Genencor, and Monsanto (nyse: MON - news - people ).

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