As a global community, we are well aware that we have a number of challenges in the areas of public health, food security, seeking alternatives to petrochemical-based products and mitigating climate change.
The key to resolving many of these issues lies in an area of science we refer to as engineering biology. In simple terms, engineering biology applies engineering principles to the design, build and scaling of biological systems. It integrates and incorporates biosciences, physical sciences and technologies like AI to redesign cells, proteins and organisms so that they can be utilised to improve industrial, economic and environmental processes.
Engineering biology is a strategically important area of research for UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT).
UKRI’s five-year strategy stresses the importance that engineering biology, along with AI and quantum computing, has in “…securing UK strategic advantage in game changing technologies… enriching and improving lives and opening up transformative opportunities for research and business”.
Engineering biology has a wide range of applications and it has the potential to revolutionise almost all aspects of modern life. For example:
- improving health and well-being by engineering microbes to produce new vaccines and therapeutics
- enhancing food security via precision breeding of crops to increase their disease-resistance
- supporting clean growth by engineering microbes to produce alternatives to petrochemical-based products
- aiding environmental sustainability and recovery by deploying engineered biological tools for the remediation of polluted water systems and the circular economy
Engineering biology presents a generational opportunity to grow an internationally leading sector, provide new avenues for economic growth and increase productivity in the UK.
And Norwich Research Park is at the centre of this opportunity.
For many years, scientists and researchers at the John Innes Centre, The Sainsbury Laboratory, Quadram Institute and Earlham Institute, have been at the forefront of engineering biology. They have developed world-leading expertise in areas such as plant science and food security, human health and climate change, that is now being deployed on projects that will deliver new varieties of disease-resistant and higher yielding crops, a greater understanding of the gut microbiome’s impact on people’s health and solutions to mitigate the effects of climate change.
A good example of using engineering biology to improve human health comes from researchers at the John Innes Centre who are deploying gene editing techniques to develop biofortified tomatoes that have a higher vitamin D content that will help to improve people’s health.
The campus expertise in engineering biology has also attracted a number of companies to start and grow their businesses at the Park, creating new jobs. Long-term tenant Tropic is known for its use of precision breeding to develop a new variety of non-browning banana. ALORA, that moved to Norwich from Canada two years ago is developing gene-edited varieties of rice that can be grown in higher temperatures. BugBiome is developing biologically-based pesticides, ResurrectBio is using gene editing to unlock disease resistance in crops and HotHouse Therapeutics is looking to create treatments and medicines from the plant kingdom.
Without doubt, we at the edge of what promises to be a new dawn for science breakthroughs that could go a long way to resolving some of the major global challenges we face. Embracing engineering biology and combining that with higher compute power and AI tools will ensure that solutions are found quicker than in previous decades. We are fortunate that at Norwich Research Park we have some the finest minds in the world working on this which in itself offers us the opportunity to create new jobs for the area as well as solve real world problems.
The bottom line is that investment is needed to make these solutions impactful. Ideas do not turn themselves into remedies unless they are commercialised. Norwich Research Park has a proven track record of helping new companies start up and grow and it has an ecosystem that is designed to help companies achieve success. Now is the time where we must ‘pull out all the stops’ to maximise the opportunity for our regional economy whilst we help solve some of the world’s biggest problems.
