Three Reasons Why Biomanufacturing Matters
National Security. Climate Change. Unlocking Synthetic Biology.
Biomanufacturing is the process of using microbes to produce chemicals, proteins, and other useful products. In some way, this is an ancient practice dating back to when people first started making alcohol. More recently, companies like Genentech have started using microbes like yeast to manufacture drugs like insulin. Today, engineered microbes are used to synthesize a diverse array of chemicals, from lysine to hydrogen peroxide. Efforts are also underway to harness synthetic biology for creating sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs) and cultured meats, sometimes referred to as alternative proteins.
Despite the promise, the synthetic biology sector faces significant challenges, such as limited fermentation capacity and difficulties in scaling production—see my previous piece on this. Even industry paragon Ginkgo Bioworks has encountered setbacks, including massive layoffs and threats of stock delisting, (though, it seems everyone is doing layoffs around now).
Still, biomanufacturing remains a pivotal technology that must be advanced for three key reasons. The first is that it offers an opportunity to reduce dependency on complex global supply chains by using domestically grown resources, such as American sugar. The second is that biomanufacturing operations are largely carbon-neutral, providing a sustainable alternative to traditional petrochemical processes. The third is a mixture of science and fiction: that the successful expansion of this technology could usher in a new era of unique chemical products by enabling synthetic biology to reach consumers.
Supply Chain National Security
The Biden Administration has emphasized biomanufacturing as a strategic asset in strengthening national security. A comprehensive sixty-four-page memorandum from March 2023 outlines the critical role of the bioeconomy, detailing ambitious goals including the production of sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs), achieving supply chain independence, manufacturing small-molecule drugs, and developing recyclable-by-design bioplastic polymers.
Part of the motivation for this investment comes from the need to disentangle global supply chains - specifically those going through China.
China has repeatedly asserted how crucial biotechnology is to its economic strategy in recent years. Per the Asia Society Policy Institute:
At provincial, city, and company levels (both state-owned and private), officials have connected the concept of “red genes” in party-building activities to upskilling talent in the biomedical industry. Within the latest State Council work report, both biomanufacturing and life sciences are highlighted as industries primed under the “new productive forces” campaign for China to “build new growth engines” and “open new tracks” for development.
In the United States, the reaction to perceived Chinese pressure has been bipartisan. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Mark Warner (D-VA) have collaborated to limit the influence of Chinese biotech advancements. Moreover, while lab-cultured meats face regulatory challenges, such as the recent ban in Florida under Governor Ron DeSantis, the production of chemicals and drugs remains a robust focus for biomanufacturing, reflecting a growing incentive to establish more stable and geographically independent supply chains.1
Climate Change Mitigation
The list of materials derived from petroleum is extensive: nylon, plastics, antiseptics, cosmetics, lubricants, ink, various fuels, and so much more. Traditional petrochemistry, which relies on high temperatures, necessitates the burning of fossil fuels. Furthermore, the global supply chains required for petrochemicals mean that raw materials must be transported worldwide for extraction, refinement, and transformation into useful products.
In stark contrast, biomanufacturing presents a promising shift towards sustainability, operating predominantly at room temperature and thereby significantly reducing energy consumption. There is potential for biomanufacturing to utilize carbon dioxide as a carbon-source feedstock, rendering the process not just carbon-neutral but carbon-negative. Some pioneers in the field, such as Solugen, already perform fully carbon-negative manufacturing.
The Biden administration recognizes the pivotal role of the bioeconomy in combating climate change. This interest aligns with broader U.S. environmental goals, underscoring biomanufacturing as not merely an innovative technology but a crucial component of future sustainability strategies.
Unlocking Synthetic Biology
Biology is magic. I’ll let Genentech tell the story:
In 1978, Genentech scientist Dennis Kleid toured a factory in Indiana where insulin was being made from pigs and cattle. “There was a line of train cars filled with frozen pancreases,” he says. At the time, it took 8,000 pounds of pancreas glands from 23,500 animals to make one pound of insulin. Diabetics lack this hormone, which regulates the amount of glucose in the blood. The manufacturer, Eli Lilly, needed 56 million animals per year to meet the increasing U.S. demand for the drug. They had to find a new insulin alternative, fast.
Genentech's groundbreaking work in engineering E. coli to produce human insulin marked a seminal moment in biotechnology. This synthetic human insulin received FDA approval and became a standard treatment for seven million American diabetics.
Since this pioneering achievement, biomanufacturing has facilitated the development of novel medicines such as monoclonal antibodies. These advancements demonstrate biomanufacturing's superiority over traditional methods, such as using animal surrogates. Without biomanufacturing, many of these critical medicines would be inaccessible to the majority of patients.
In the future, synthetic biologists may bring all sorts of nature’s unique compounds to our manufacturing processes, our diets, and daily lives. To highlight just a few startups: Amai is trying to produce proteins that taste like sugar, Shellworks is trying to produce biodegradable packaging materials, Bolt Threads works on producing spider silk for fashion applications, Cemvita wants to extract hydrogen gas using microbes, and Viridos wants to make jet fuels from algae.
The truth is that this generation of startups are unlikely to succeed. It’s hard to fundraise, and it’s harder to iterate on production strategies. Without these levers, scaling up becomes nearly impossible, and the market has shown no desire to pay a green premium for a manufactured product. However, as the industry continues to address these challenges, there remains a hopeful outlook for the future generation of biomanufactured chemicals and materials.
The Moral High Ground
Many people get into biomanufacturing for its moral implications. Perhaps one day, we’ll figure out how to properly culture animal meat and free ourselves from the moral turmoil that is factory farming (Though, the numbers suggest otherwise for now, and the dirty secret is that every cultured meat company seems to be blending in plant protein).
Moreover, the potential to diminish our dependence on petroleum is another moral imperative. As we've discussed, a vast array of essential materials currently derived from oil could eventually be produced through biomanufacturing. While this transition may not be imminent, the importance of striving towards such innovations cannot be overstated.
In previous writing on solarpunk futures, I emphasized the importance of optimistic, sustainable visions for technology. Biomanufacturing is central to these visions, I cannot conceive of a sustainable civilization without such.
Who Will Take up The Mantle?
It remains to be seen who will actually win the fight for developing successful biomanufacturing infrastructure, but, for people in the industry, this technology is existential: It’s seen as mission-critical on the path to overcoming climate change.
Most startups will likely die out before manufacturing capacity hits the necessary levels. Getting biomanufacturing facilities funded through external sources is challenging. As such, the players who can establish enough capacity to compete with incumbent chemical companies are those with pockets deep enough to build facilities themselves: existing chemical companies like DuPont or ag/food processing duopoly companies Cargill and ADM.
Thanks for reading. If you work in or would like to work in biomanufacturing, let’s chat: mohakjain at berkeley dot edu.
I am cautiously optimistic about the potential of biomanufacturing to help open bottlenecks in supply chains.
Ed Conway’s Material World, both the book and the blog, discusses just how deeply intertwined the supply chains of the world are. From the book, speaking of silicon chip manufacturing Conway writes:
”When politicians talk lazily about re-shoring, it often betrays a deep ignorance of what is happening out there … The deeper one delves, the clearer it is that each of these supply chains is interwoven with one another. We are in a web, not a chain.”