Andrew Hessel, Distinguished Research Scientist at Autodesk Life Sciences says new biomedical technologies are on the cusp of dramatically impacting not only healthcare and how we treat disease, but life itself. We’re hearing about pending breakthroughs in editing DNA, stem cells that regenerate damaged tissue, and drugs designed to precisely target an individual’s disease. If this sounds like science fiction, it is—but probably not for long. Scientists like synthetic biologist Andrew Hessel are working to make these and other eye-popping new technologies real.