When it comes to synthetic biology, Britain and the United States cannot avoided. The United States is the leader in synthetic biology, followed closely by the United Kingdom, which leads European countries.
This is thanks to support for the field of synthetic biology. The United States has achieved nearly US$4 billion in synthetic biology financing from 2016 to 2020 through government-guided social capital, while the British government has promoted the translational application of synthetic biology through the establishment of an ecosystem that supports innovation.
On November 5, the British government released its latest support policy for the field of synthetic biology, the “National Vision for Engineering Biology”. This document proposes a plan to invest 2 billion pounds to utilize the power of biology. Power to deliver new medical treatments, crop varieties, environmentally friendly fuels and chemicals, reinforcing Britain’s position as a technological superpower.
The vision sets out how investment, policy and regulatory reform will support this critical technology over the next decade and establishes a new Engineering Biology Steering Group.
7 priorities for realizing technological advantage in synthetic biology
The vision sets out six priorities to ensure this technological advantage achieved, namely world-leading research and development, infrastructure, talent and skills, regulations and standards, wider economic development and responsible and trustworthy innovation.
- The new Engineering Biology Steering Group will bring together current and next generation academic, start-up and industry leaders in engineering biology working in the UK.
- World-leading R&D: Public investment in world-class R&D on key challenges and fundamental research to enable innovative breakthroughs and the creation of new products. £2 billion will invested in engineering biology over the next 10 years.
- Infrastructure: Investing in UK infrastructure to reduce the costs of engineering biology innovation in the early stages and at scale. We will develop a plan for UK facilities to support start-ups and scale-ups.
- Talent and skills: Developing and retaining a diverse talent pool across the UK to meet the needs of academia and industry, spanning scientific, technical and entrepreneurial skills. Invest in scholarship and doctoral training, including new discovery scholarships.
- Regulation and Standards: Working with the Government and all relevant regulatory authorities to ensure that the UK regulatory environment will facilitate the entry of engineered biological derivatives into the market. Leveraging a new network of engineering biology regulators, the government will implement a set of regulatory sandboxes (exercises on experimental regulatory concepts) to create pathways to achieve this goal.
- Adoption in the wider economy: We will develop a pool of investors and customers who understand the potential of engineered biology, and a pool of companies that understand the priorities of potential customers. Host a showcase for engineering bio companies. Government department teams will increase awareness of engineering biology in their departments to ensure smooth implementation of products and services.
- Responsible and trustworthy innovation: Making the UK a world leader in responsible innovation by 2030. The government will engage in an open dialogue about the benefits, challenges and risks of this technology, encouraging a renewed commitment to responsible research and innovation. Work with allies and partners to develop international norms and standards, including through multilateral forums.
Supported areas
Engineering biology has identified a wide range of applications. The government sees significant economic opportunities for the UK in health, agriculture and food, chemicals and materials, and low-carbon fuels. Collectively, they could achieve an economic impact of $2-4 trillion per year globally over the next 20 years. Healthcare alone can reach $1.2 trillion annually. But beyond that, applications in agriculture, food, chemicals and energy could impact the global economy at $1.5 trillion annually.
All of these applications share similar underlying technology. Engineering biology powered by the convergence of multiple technological trends.
First, the rapid decline in the cost of DNA sequencing has enabled the assembly of large bioinformatics data sets. Oxford Nanopore in the UK has pioneered a handheld nucleotide sequencing device with superior sequence accuracy and length.
Second, deploying computing power, artificial intelligence, and machine learning on these data sets enables researchers to predict the relationship between DNA sequence, protein folding, and ultimately protein function. The UK has developed tools such as DeepMind’s AlphaFold for this purpose.
Third, custom DNA sequences can written cost-effectively. British companies such as Evonetix and Touchlight have made significant progress in synthesizing longer and larger DNA. Finally, powerful gene-editing technologies such as CRISPR-Cas9 will drive new innovations. British innovators are early adopters of these technologies, particularly in plant and mammalian cells.
Health
Engineering biology has been at the heart of driving innovation in health, particularly over the past 25 years. It has the potential to improve patient outcomes through more precise, personalized therapies and cutting-edge developments such as artificial organs and smart drugs. The government, through the Department of Health and Social Care and DSIT, is working with Moderna and BioNTech to develop mRNA vaccines and therapeutics, and is investing in precision medicine for early diagnosis and targeted immunotherapies through the Cancer Mission.
Centers of excellence such as the CPI Center for Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Innovation also provide important opportunities for government to collaborate with industry, academia, regulators and the healthcare sector to accelerate the development and adoption of this innovation. Internationally, the UK government is funding a number of life sciences projects involving drug discovery, genomic surveillance and vaccine development. This includes the FCDO-Wellcome funded joint initiative on pandemic preparedness and response research.
Agriculture and Food
In the agriculture and food sector, Defra’s Gene Technology (Precision Breeding) Bill 2023 provides opportunities to apply engineering biology to farmed animals and plants to make them more resistant to pests, disease and environmental challenges. This will increase the resilience of our food supply and improve the health of our natural environment. New veterinary vaccines and diagnostics are also in development and will provide tools to target high-priority animal pathogens through engineered biology.
Additionally, engineering biology tools are being used to develop and manufacture alternative proteins, including cell culture proteins. The Food Standards Agency has recently completed a review of its regulatory framework for novel foods and is considering how to remove barriers to innovation, including for cell-cultured proteins, through legislative, framework and process reforms, while maintaining the UK’s excellent regulatory integrity. Internationally, the UK co-funds the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research ( CGIAR ) initiative: Accelerating crop improvement through genome editing.
chemicals and materials
Engineering biology can create existing chemicals and materials more sustainably, as well as entirely new chemicals that would be difficult to create through chemistry alone. The Department for Energy and Net Zero, the Department for Business and Trade and the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs are considering how sustainable biomass can be used to reduce carbon emissions from the chemicals industry. This includes how economies can use waste streams more economically, creating a circular carbon bioeconomy. The Department of Defense is also investigating the potential of engineered biologically derived materials to overcome the physical limitations of current equipment and supply chain shortages.
low carbon fuel
Engineering biology could create new low-carbon fuel supplies that could be used in aviation and cars. The Department for Transport has invested £25 million in LanzaTech UK’s new plant in Port Talbot, which will convert steel mill exhaust gases into ethanol and then use the ethanol to produce sustainable aviation fuel for jet technology. The MoD has also invested in Manchester-based C3 Biotech, whose aviation fuel is used to fly RAF drones.
National security, resilience and preparedness
Engineering biology will become increasingly important in achieving national resilience and preparedness against biological risks. It helps us prepare for, detect and mitigate natural and human threats. When misused accidentally or intentionally, engineered biology can pose significant global social and economic risks. The Biosecurity Strategy 2023 sets out the actions the UK must take to mitigate the risk of biological threats, including developing a policy for responsible innovation in engineering biology to manage risks without inhibiting growth. Biosecurity policy is the responsibility of multiple government departments and is coordinated by the Cabinet Office. The Home Office is responsible for preventing biological risks from arising or threatening the UK and British interests.
Some areas where efforts are needed
In July, the UK launched a call for evidence and received 81 responses from academia and business, which provided the UK government with a wealth of insights into the strengths, weaknesses and opportunities of the UK ecosystem.
In terms of R&D, respondents said:
The successful integration of engineering biology, artificial intelligence, bioinformatics and automation is overwhelmingly regarded as the most important area of scientific and technological progress. These techniques are being applied to molecular prediction and design, in silico design, and understanding cell behavior. They will shorten the time from “invention to commercialization” of engineered biology-derived products, potentially to less than 5 years.
Data orchestration will be a key enabler of this change. The standardization of protein structures enabled DeepMind to develop AlphaFold, an artificial intelligence system that predicts protein structures. Respondents suggested that leaps forward could be achieved if data on protein function, transcription, biochemistry, metabolomics, fermentation, life cycle and techno-economic analysis were standardized. Respondents were clear about the need to validate and validate AI models used in engineering biology and noted the need to consider the ethics of AI.
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The fundamental tools of engineering biology will continue to evolve, including our understanding of new complex biological systems. New tools will be more flexible, have greater applicability in the laboratory, and increasingly be able to target more complex traits and specific tissues.
The British government will promote integrated multidisciplinary research in areas such as artificial intelligence/machine learning and automation, and strengthen international cooperation.
Infrastructure:
Interviewees said that currently small start-ups often lack funds to establish large-scale production equipment,
and the UK lacks food-grade equipment below pharmaceutical grade,
especially fermentation tanks and bioreactors with a capacity of more than 20,000 liters, so they rely on Cooperate with overseas companies.
In addition, the UK still lacks the process and product supply chain required for pilot scale,
and the low connectivity of some existing facilities also affects corporate efficiency.
Computing and robotics platforms to enable high-throughput production and automation, as well as data infrastructure,
are also critical: access to high-quality, standardized data will make the development of tools and products more efficient and effective.
The government will develop a plan for UK facilities to support innovation at laboratory scale and pilot scale. Explore a range of public and private financing models that can increase access.
and creating resilient supply chains that reduce ecosystem cost, time, and complexity. Evaluate the advantages, disadvantages, and more of distributed and centralized models of open access facilities.
Engineering Biology in Economics
Respondents stated that in terms of financing, on the one hand, it is difficult to obtain financing other than seed/angel rounds in the UK,
and on the other hand, there is a lack of investors with expertise in engineering biology and its applications.
On the sales side, startups are happy to cooperate with large companies, but there are some obstacles to such cooperation.
These barriers include the use of different technical languages, differences in time frame expectations,
differences in values and working practices, and the feeling that SMEs being asked to act as industry consultants rather than being able to develop their own products.
In addition, reluctance to share insights is also one of the obstacles, “Industrial chemicals, energy and agriculture will benefit from increased transparency and better communication.” SMEs find that it is difficult to find interested individuals or “champions” within larger enterprises. Important, but difficult, especially given the low awareness of opportunities in engineering biology. Additionally, larger organizations have embedded working practices and sunk costs that may hinder the adoption of new approaches.
The British government stated that it will enhance investors and customers understanding of engineering biology and help companies understand customer needs. Specifically, in terms of measures, the Department of Business and Trade (DBT) will hold an engineering biology exhibition next year and formulate more detailed measures. Suitable for loose regulatory policies, etc.
