Science and Engineering News

Mirror Life: Is Medicine’s Future in… Reverse?

By Cooper Matthews

At the end of last year, a 299-page report (with contributions from Nobel laureates and global researchers) urged the world to halt all research towards creating “mirror bacteria” until we better understand the risks these organisms pose (Adamala, et al., 2024). So, what on earth is mirror bacteria, have you heard of it? And why would we want to engineer it? 

Everything in our world is made up of atoms and molecules. Think of molecules like your hands: they’re mirror images yet don’t fit the same gloves. That’s because proteins, DNA, and sugars have a sense of “handedness”—the scientific term for this is ‘chirality’. Normal life uses one “hand” of these building blocks. But mirror bacteria would be engineered using the opposite-handed, or opposite-chirality versions. Essentially, a biological mirror world created through genetic engineering, where scientists rewrite molecular code to build life from scratch—similar to what we looked at recently during National Science Week in regards to DNA Sequence Decoding.

The trick with mirror molecules is that our bodies can’t recognise them. Because they are flipped, like looking in a mirror, they can slip past our natural “scanners”—the enzymes and immune system—and work un-contested for significantly longer. It’s a bit like wearing a disguise.

• Longer lasting medicines: Mirror versions of proteins (called mirror peptides) aren’t broken down by conventional immune methods, so treatments can stay active in the body for significantly longer and may cause fewer side effects.
• Hyper efficient treatments and tests: Scientists are designing mirror molecules that can stick to specific disease targets, resistant against the body’s immune system, making them useful for new drugs and medical tests. (Funke & Willbold, 2009)
• Fighting superbugs: Some mirror peptides can both attack bacteria and give the immune system an extra boost, helping us fight drug-resistant infections (Amponnawarat, et al., 2025).
• Better research tools: In the lab, mirror proteins help researchers study the shape of tricky molecules (e.g., X-ray crystallography), sort of like putting a puzzle together (Adamala, et al., 2024).

But there isn’t life… yet.

Right now, mirror bacteria don’t exist. Researchers have made mirror molecules and used them in labs, but creating a complete self-replicating mirror organism is still theoretical and potentially decades away. The report argues that while mirror molecules hold promise, we must postpone efforts toward full mirror cells until we can guarantee safety and containment. 


Whilst mirror life’s superpower to go undetected is what allows for the development of such exciting molecular technology, this strength is subsequently its greatest concern. They could spread uncontrolled, acting like a stealthy invader in ecosystems and causing harm before we even detect them. That’s why scientists are calling for legislation, public discussions, and laws—much like we’re doing with AI—to ensure scientific progress doesn’t outpace safety.

For all us people, it’s worth remembering that the world is changing at a speed unlike any other time in history. Breakthroughs in biology and technology are happening in just a few years, changes that used to take centuries. That makes it more important than ever to stay curious, informed, and involved in these conversations.

References


Adamala, K., Agashe, D., Binder, D., Cai, Y., Cooper, V., Duncombe, R., Esvelt, K., Glass, J., Hand, T., Inglesby, T., Isaacs, F., Jones, J., Lenski, R., Lewis, G., Medzhitov, R., Nicotra, M., Oehm, S., Pannu, J., Relman, D., . . . Wang, B. (2024). Technical report on Mirror Bacteria: Feasibility and risks. Stanford Digital Repository. https://doi.org/10.25740/cv716pj4036

Amponnawarat, A., Torres, M. D., Krishnan, R., De La Fuente-Nunez, C., & Ali, H. (2025). Synthetic peptides targeting a mast cell-specific G protein-coupled receptor MRGPRB2 display anti-infective potential. Cell Biomaterials, 100088. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celbio.2025.100088

Funke, S. A., & Willbold, D. (2009). Mirror image phage display—a method to generate d-peptide ligands for use in diagnostic or therapeutical applications. Molecular BioSystems, 5(8), 783. https://doi.org/10.1039/b904138a

Thomas, A. (2025, April 14). Biology’s “Mirror Organisms”—And their Dangers. Harvard Magazine. https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2025/05/harvard-mirror-organisms-nature-chirality

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