The pressure to find more sustainable ways of generating energy, manufacturing crop treatments and producing medicines without relying on petro-chemicals, pesticides and synthetic chemistry-based drug discovery is now higher than ever.
Strong consumer demand coupled with a future ban on certain chemicals means that the Government needs to engage with scientists and incentivise large companies, through improved regulation, to find new ways to protect crops, produce food and create medicines.
Researchers, scientists and companies based at Norwich Research Park have been working on many of these ‘BioTransitions’ for many years now so are well placed to deliver solutions and advise the Government on how to implement them.
‘BioTransitions’ refers to how biological solutions can replace the current reliance on petro-chemicals. Norwich Research Park has one of the largest clusters of microbiologists in the world, who are making significant new discoveries in this field to mitigate the effects of climate change, improve food security and enhance the health of the nation.
They are at the forefront of ‘engineering biology’ – process that enables scientists to manipulate living systems – which can fundamentally change industrial processes.
There are three main areas of focus for ‘BioTransitions’.
One is to find bio-based alternatives to chemicals before they are banned. Moving from chemical-based agriculture to more sustainable methods means employing techniques such as precision breeding in combination with using new biochemicals and also gaining a new understanding of soil management technology. Norwich Research Park’s leadership in this area means that there is a good opportunity to advise Government on the UK’s transition road map, attract significant inward investment from large corporations, support the development of new start-up companies and create a bridge for the UK to Europe through international research collaborations.
We also need to alter our approach to human health by focusing more on preventing certain conditions and diseases rather than treating them. This requires a greater application of our knowledge of diet, nutrition, the gut microbiome, the gut-brain axis and behaviour change to extend people’s ‘health-span’ and in so doing, improving people’s quality of life and reducing the burden on the NHS.
And, for pharmaceuticals, there is a need to transition away from traditional manufacture of synthetic chemistry-based drugs. Instead, we must invest in plant and enzyme-based methods, where plants become the chemists which allow us to create complex drugs, cost effectively. This is needed before oil, used in petro-chemicals, makes it too expensive.
‘BioTransitions’ will help to maximise the impact of publicly-funded research because it has the potential to create new economic growth, address climate change, improve the health of our nation, ensure food is nutritious and abundant and create new therapeutics using plants.
There are some great examples of companies at Norwich Research Park’s campus who are already have some very strong ‘BioTransitions’ propositions.
Colorifix is an industrial biotech that creates sustainable dye for the fashion and textile industries from organisms like plants, insects, animals and microbes. It takes the DNA code that produces the pigment and transfers it into microbes that are fermented, to convert them into dye. This process reduces the levels of water consumption, electricity usage, pollution and carbon emissions of conventional dyeing methods.
Tropic is a pioneering tropical seeds agri-biotech company, using gene editing to improve crops grown in tropical regions of the world, such as bananas and rice. Earlier this year, it unveiled its new variant of the Cavendish banana, world’s most consumed banana, that will remain yellow and firm for up to 24 hours after it is peeled. This will help to cut down on food waste, make growing and distributing bananas more cost efficient and help to preserve the banana industry.
Alora is an ocean agriculture company that employs precision breeding techniques to develop variants of rice that have improved growing tolerances to salination and heat that will ultimately enable it to grow rice on the surfaces of the oceans in tropical climates.
With such a credible track record in ‘BioTransitions’, Norwich Research Park is ideally placed to advise the Government on what can be adopted now, where more research is required and the optimal order to move away from our dependence on petrochemicals and instead turn to the use of biology and engineering biology.
Earlier this year, a high-level delegation from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) visited Norwich Research Park, to see for themselves the cutting-edge innovation in engineering biology that is being conducted across the campus.
Roz Bird, CEO of Anglia Innovation Partnership, the campus management organisation at Norwich Research Park, highlighted the opportunity to the delegation for the campus to participate in, and where appropriate lead, transformative programmes of ‘BioTransitions’ work.
She believes that now is the time to maximise the potential of the publicly-funded research at Norwich Research Park. Not only is it in a very strong position to lead on engineering biology in the UK, in terms of the critical mass of activity and the diverse range of work but it has also established a very successful programme to support new spin-out and start-up companies and create new industry partnerships that will, ultimately, generate new jobs and stimulate growth for the local economy.
In short, ‘BioTransitions’ is set to become a byword for the future success of Norfolk’s, and indeed the UK’s, economy.
