In 2007 British Petroleum selected the University of California, Berkeley to lead the Energy Biosciences Institute. It is a $500 million energy research consortium with partners Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and the University of Illinois. A year ago, Craig Venter’s company, Synthetic Genomics announced a $300 million deal with Exxon Mobil. The plan is to create fuel-producing algae, in part by using synthetic genes.

On May 27, in a hearing for the Health and Energy Committee on Energy and Commerce of the U.S. House of Representatives, Jay Keasling told how the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) is exploring the potential of synthetic biology to advance the development of next generation advanced “drop-in” fuels that perform better than ethanol.

From petroleum to sugar?

Keasling is also the founder of Amyris Biotechnologies Inc. This company is one of the key players that projects the global synthetic biology market to exceed $ 4.5 billion by the year 2015. Amyris is specialized in applying synthetic biology to provide alternatives to petroleum-sourced fuels and chemicals. A brief overview of Amyris’s activities demonstrates that apart from biofuels, synthetic biology will be applied to pave the way for a bio-based economy.

The idea is to replace molecules that might otherwise be produced from petroleum, with sugarbased products. Amyris is not only applying a type of biological pathway engineering that still looks like a sophisticated mode of genetic engineering, it also builds on established interests in sugar cane production. The company demonstrates that commercial strategies are built on existing technologies and economic infrastructures.

Radical approach

Meanwhile, far more radical approaches of synthetic biology are being developed. Think of a new artificial photosynthetic material. It uses plant, bacterial, frog and fungal enzymes, by trapping them within a foam housing. Such artificial energy production platforms are more radical because they do not rely on plants or algae. They are not competing with food production, since they do not use soil. And they are far more efficient in capturing and converting energy from the sunlight since they do not have to maintain life and reproduce. But, these more radical applications may require fundamental transitions in the structure of energy production and distribution. That makes commercial incentives like the ones BP and ExxonMobil are involved in, less likely.

More about Amyris and artificial photosynthesis

Amyris Paves the Way for Sustainable Fuels and Chemical Production (PDF file)

Frogs, Foam and Fuel (PDF file)

References

Energy Biosciences Institute website: https://www.energybiosciencesinstitute.org/

Testimony by Dr. Jay Keasling, Hearing on Developments in Synthetic Genomics and Implications for Health and Energy, Committee on Energy and Commerce U.S. House of Representatives, May 27, 2010 https://energycommerce.house.gov/documents/20100527/Keasling.Testimony.05.27.2010.pdf

Global Synthetic Biology Market to Exceed $4.5 Billion by 2015, According to New Report by Global Industry Analysts, Inc., PRWeb, July 13, 2010

Antonia Regalado, Reinventing the Leaf, Scientific American (Web only), October 2010http://www.scientificamerican.com/assets/zemi/files/pdf/Reinventing_the_Leaf.pdf

29 November 2010

Today, the first edition of the Synthetic Biology Newsletter was published. The Synthetic Biology Newsletter is an initiative of LIS Consult and the Synthetic Biology Project of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. The newsletter is financially supported by the Commission on Genetic Modification and the  Rathenau Institute, both in the Netherlands.

The full newsletter (in PDF) can be downloaded here

In this issue:

I. Synthetic biology and the bio-based economy

Who would ever believe it possible that synthetic biology would make cars drive on renewable diesel and jets fly while reducing greenhouse gas emissions? Or that synthetic biology helps to replace petroleum based products by sugar based counterparts? Oh, and did you know that frogs set the example for a super efficient foam that captures energy and removes excess carbon dioxide from the air? Read more about synthetic biology and about Amyris, one synthetic biology company that is seriously and ambitiously paving the way for a bio-based economy as our glimmering future. Read more.....

II. Synthia’s (not so) revolutionary character

Do we need to start worrying about potential risks for our health and security? Is synthetic biology helping us to create artificial life? Or is our first self-replicating synthetic bacterial cell ‘just the replacement of one of the motors (of life)’, as the Vatican and other institutions believe? Meanwhile, US President Obama thinks it is time for his bioethics commission to start answering some serious questions. How can the US ‘reap the benefits of this developing field of science while identifying ethical boundaries and minimizing risks?’ Read more.....

III. Society’s response to synthetic biology

While synthetic biology is growing as a field of science, international civil society organizations rely on their 1990s genetic engineering strategy. They focus on risks and call for a moratorium and stricter regulation. Meanwhile, scientists and public policy authorities seem to have learned their GMO lessons. The success or a failure of a potentially controversial technology, depends on the way the public perceives it. So, in Europe, public debates are blooming. Read more.....

IV. Radical biology

Stuff for our hardcore science readers…Learn how bio-engineers are working on very radical concepts of biological systems; concepts that involve the fundamental principles of genetics and cellular mechanisms. Read more.....

4 November 2010

The objective of the NanoCode Project is to define and develop a framework aimed at supporting the successful integration and implementation, at the European level and beyond, of the Code of Conduct (CoC) for nanosciences and nanotechnologies (N&N) proposed by the European Commission in 2008.

29 July, 2010

A recently published ‘Country Report’ describes the social context for the governance of nanotechnologies in the Netherlands. The report is one of the products of the ‘Nanocode project’, of a multistakeholder dialogue providing inputs to implement the European Code of Conduct for Nanosciences & Nanotechnologies Research.

This Code of Conduct, drafted by the European Commission in 2008, is complementary to existing regulations. It provides Member States, employers, research funders, researchers and more generally all individuals and civil society organisations involved or interested in nanosciences and nanotechnologies (N&N) research (“all stakeholders”) with guidelines favouring a responsible and open approach to N&N research in the Community (Commission Recommendation of 07/02/2008). Several Country Reports drafted by the Nanocode project consortium describe the current social context, governance activities, civil society’s involvement, existing nanocodes and stakeholder’s opinions.

The nanocode project is supported by the European Commission through the 7^th framework programme.

The full report is available for downloading here.