Artificial intelligence-driven design/synthetic biology
Using machine learning and cutting-edge software programs to speed up the process of designing and engineering biological pathways for producing important compounds.
Genome engineering
Using advanced gene editing tools to engineer plants and microbes capable of producing valuable, sustainable bioproducts.
Sustainable biomanufacturing
Harnessing microbes to produce biofuels and bioproducts from greenhouse gases — CO2 and methane — captured from the atmosphere.
Scale-up
Developing and optimizing all phases of bioproduct manufacturing processes, from host organism design to product purification.
Techno-economic analysis
Developing publicly-available techno-economic models: a type of simulation that analyzes the financial and environmental outcomes of biomanufacturing processes based on the technology used and the chemical inputs, allowing researchers to design the most efficient and responsible “recipes” for large-scale production.
Inside the JBEI’s Emeryville laboratories, researchers are using the latest tools in molecular biology, chemical engineering, computational, and robotic technologies to transform biomass into biofuels and bioproducts.
The ABPDU collaborates with academic labs, start-ups, and established companies to accelerate new biology-based products from early R&D to market readiness.
The Agile BioFoundry, a consortium of national laboratories dedicated to accelerating biomanufacturing and decarbonizing the economy, engineers biological systems to perform desired functions and produce molecules at optimal yields, efficiencies, and costs.
The JGI provides integrated, high-throughput sequencing, DNA design and synthesis, cell metabolite analysis, and computational analysis that helps researchers engineer better biomanufacturing host organisms.
This DOE Bioenergy Technologies Office-funded consortium focuses on research to transform CO2 and electrons into sustainable aviation fuels.
Berkeley Lab scientists are pioneering research to accelerate the development of negative emissions technologies, which capture and remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere or other sources or enhance natural carbon sinks, such as soils.
Empowers the research community to harness microbiome data exploration and discovery through a collaborative integrative data science ecosystem.
Berkeley Lab conducts unbiased analysis to evaluate the cost implications and environmental impacts of a wide range of energy technologies and strategies to support decision-making by groups.
Deepti Tanjore is Director of the Advanced Biofuels and Bioproducts Process Development Unit (ABPDU). Her research focuses on modeling the impact of bioprocess conditions on microbial heterogeneity and developing in-line analytical tools for real-time adaptation of process development in bioreactors.
Nathan Hillson's work has spanned the realms of the private (notably as co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer at TeselaGen Biotechnologies, Inc.) and public biotechnology sectors. He leads scientists and engineers whose domain expertise spans synthetic biology, metabolic engineering, microbiology, software engineering, and laboratory automation engineering.
Blake Simmons is the Director of Berkeley Lab's Biological Systems and Engineering Division and the Chief Science and Technology Officer at the Joint BioEnergy Institute. His research focuses on developing innovative science-based solutions that generate advanced biofuels and bioproducts produced from sustainable, non-food lignocellulosic biomass, plastic, gaseous, and mixed feedstocks.
Héctor García Martín, a staff scientist in the Biosciences Area, is pioneering the application of AI tools to synthetic biology to lower costs and speed the development of bio-based products like plastic alternatives, carbon-neutral fuels, and new medicines.
Research Scientist and Deputy Director of Host Engineering at the JBEI Thomas Eng is using the gene editing tool CRISPR to create a more sustainable plastic.
What do advanced medicines, renewable fuels, vegan burgers, smart fabrics, petroleum-free plastics, and cruelty-free cosmetics have in common? They’re all produced with specially engineered microbes! Yep, microbes. In episode three, we explore the fields of science making this 21st century industrial revolution possible: synthetic biology and biomanufacturing.
