Biofactories of the future

Some of the biggest advances in synthetic biology have resulted from taking an engineering approach to understanding genes and proteins. Now, synthetic biology could help engineers develop better solutions to some of the most pressing challenges facing the process industries. 

Synthetic biology can mean different things to different people. Essentially, however, it is the creation or modification of living systems through artificial means. For process engineers, the field could help solve engineering problems in a more efficient way in areas including drug manufacture, fuel production or improving wastewater treatment.

The UK is well positioned in the biological sciences sector

University & Science minister David Willetts

But the capacity of synthetic biology to develop useful applications has only become a practical option in recent years. “Progress over the past decade has been driven by a combination of factors, not least an ever deepening understanding of biological systems,” said Lionel Clarke, chairman of the UK Synthetic Biology Roadmap Coordination Group. “Specific applications are already emerging, but its long-term potential remains largely untapped.”

A recent study by BCC research on behalf of Global Information Inc estimated that the value of the global synthetic biology market will grow from $1.6bn in 2011 to $10.8bn by 2016. If this growth is to be realised, process engineers will need to work closely with scientists to translate discoveries made in the laboratory into industrial production processes. 

This won’t be an easy task; aside from the technical challenges, it will require scientists and engineers to bridge differences in work practice, knowledge and communication. For process engineers, shifting from existing factories to biofactories of the future will be one of the biggest challenges of the coming decades. Many, however, believe the UK could be at the forefront of this change.

There are a number of UK universities currently considered to be global leaders in this area, including Imperial College London, Edinburgh University, Cambridge University, King’s College London and Newcastle University. The government recently stepped up efforts to promote the scale-up of synthetic biology through academia and industry by announcing a £5.3m cash injection to help fund 15 projects across the UK. 

“Synthetic biology is one of eight key technology areas that I have identified as playing an increasingly important part in the global economy over the coming years,” said Universities and Science Minister David Willetts. “The UK is well positioned in the biological sciences sector and is among the first economies in the world to invest in this exciting area of technology.”

A major driver for the development of biofactories is in reducing the world’s dependency on fossil resources.  This is one of the goals of Prof Richard Kitney and his team at Imperial College London who, in October this year, will begin the ‘Frontier Manufacturing: Scaling up synthetic biology’ project.  According to Kitney, the project will see synthetic biology attempted on a scale never before seen in a research study.

The five-year project will tackle the problem of how to take synthetic biology from the lab bench and develop processes that will enable manufacturers to use it on an industrial scale. To begin with, the team will focus on two challenges. The first will be how to produce bulk chemicals without the need for petroleum inputs. The second focus is on developing techniques for manufacturing pharmaceuticals using synthetic biology. 

“We believe that through our research, ultimately a new, cost effective, energy efficient and sustainable route can be developed to produce chemicals and treatments for patients,” said Kitney. In the group’s grant proposal, he added that developing these future biofactories will require the invention of some new generalised technologies to underpin the manufacturing processes. 

“We will need new biologically-based sensors in order to be able to monitor the production processes as they occur to ensure the product quality- and to allow us to intervene if necessary,” said the proposal. “We will also need new, more robust production cells that can tolerate the high levels of compounds they make and new micro reactors and compartmentalisation strategies for using enzymes when whole cells are not required.”

The first challenge will be to develop intermediate production methods that combine biological and chemical catalysts. This will require solvents that are less toxic to proteins as well as cells and proteins that are engineered to be more robust in the presence of chemicals.

Imperial is working on creating computer models to compare alternatives processes. The most promising of these will be implemented in the factories of the project’s industrial partners, which include GlaxoSmithKline, Lonza Biologics and Shell. 

Ultimately a new, cost effective, energy efficient and sustainable route can be developed to produce chemicals

Professor Richard Kitney

The work builds on an earlier project by the university to cut down the time it takes to make new parts for microscopic biological factories from two days to only six hours. According to the scientists working on the project, the results of the research has brought the UK another step closer to a “new kind of industrial revolution” where products in biological factories could be mass-produced. 

Professor Paul Freemont, co-director of the Centre for Synthetic Biology and Innovation at Imperial College London and principal co-investigator of the study, said: “Before the industrial revolution most items were made by hand, which meant that they were slower to manufacture, more expensive to produce and limited in number. We are at a similar juncture in synthetic biology, having to test and build each part from scratch, which is a long and slow process.”

While much of the work is currently taking place in research laboratories, the technology is increasingly moving into the commercial arena. For instance, Cambridge University spin-out, Biotica, is working with renewable products group, Amyris to use its polyketide engineering technology in commercial operations. Polyketides are a large class of secondary metabolites found in bacteria, fungi and plants. They have the potential to make a range of compounds used in renewable fuels that are either difficult or impossible to make by conventional methods.

Elsewhere, Synthace, which is based at University College London is using micro-organisms to convert small molecules into different, more useful products. The aim is to produce high value chemical products, such as bases for fragrances and air fresheners, from cheap industrial feedstock such as rapeseed oil.

The company recently took a share of the £5.3m government funding. “The project will demonstrate a new way of engineering biology, with timescales in months rather than years,” claims Synthace’s chief executive, Sean Ward.

Momentum in the field is increasing. A recent study has identified that synthetic biology research is now being funded in 40 countries via more than 500 funding organisations, and carried out by a research community comprising an estimated 3000 researchers.

The UK is currently second only to the US in publication output. Maintaining this lead will require a coordinated approach from both academia and industry, and between laboratory scientists and process engineers.