The growing market for preassembled DNA and public access to genetic blueprints for smallpox, Ebola and other diseases have raised concerns that an individual might build a devastating biological threat from scratch.

Some researchers and law-enforcement officials have raised red flags about biohackers, and have called for better oversight of "synthetic DNA," an ingredient widely used by professional biologists and hobbyists, saying it could theoretically lead to the creation of harmful viruses like Ebola or smallpox.

Using homemade lab equipment and the wealth of scientific knowledge available online, hobbyists are trying to create new life forms through genetic engineering. Critics of the movement worry that these amateurs could one day unleash an environmental or medical disaster.

The author argues that the current rate of scientific advances is leading to a convergence of "biological, algorithmic, and micromechanical innovations necessary to build a desktop gene printer." He calls for more careful assessment and regulation of these technologies.

Recent technological advances in so-called genetic circuits have brought closer a world where cells and viruses could be modified to more effectively serve humans, but also have raised concerns that programmable life could lead to a host of tailored threats similar to Internet worms.

Design automation systems tailored to the task of genetic engineering could prove to be double-edged tools. While they represent a central thrust of the emerging synthetic biology movement, they also can lead to the accidental or deliberate creation of pathogenic biological components.

Biologists are crafting libraries of interchangeable DNA parts and assembling them inside microbes to create programmable, living machines

The author muses on the possibility of genetic engineering going "open source" and the risk of bio-hackers.