Hi everyone! My name is Owen and I am a Technical Intern here at JMP. I have a background in biology, notably synthetic biology and biotechnology. In this two-part series blog post, I would like to share with you a little bit about this growing field, how it differs from traditional Big Pharma and the opportunities that JMP have to grow.
What is Synthetic Biology or Biotechnology?
Our world is facing a lot of problems in the next decade from climate change, pollution and an ever growing population that needs to be fed. While there are countless solutions out there, a biological solution is one that is currently at the center of attention from venture capitalists and investors. A growing number of start-ups in this space are popping out in this field. Builtwithbiology’s report for Q4 of 2021 highlighted that synthetic biology companies raised a total of nearly $18 billion in 2021. These start-ups have goals to change how we currently do things. Specifically, how we manufacture things.
Big Pharma focuses on medicines and drug development. The broad field of synthetic biology expands that scope through a change of perspective. We are now looking at cells not as objects of study, but as little factories to produce a wide variety of consumer products. Let me outline a few examples:
- Bolt Threads is a materials company that produces mushroom leather and spider silk clothing
- Cultivated (lab-grown) meat companies such as Finless Foods, Shiok Meats and Higher Steaks are re-inventing the way we produce our food
- Colorifix creates biodegradable alternative to dyes and pigments for the fashion/textiles industry
Biological manufacturing of goods and services have the potential to move society towards a more sustainable and renewable future. Governments have also taken interest in these new advances to shift their economy into what is termed as a bio-based economy or bioeconomy. Both the UK and US have recognized and included these technologies as part of their strategy.
Malcolm Moore (@malcolm_moore1) explains: "Synthetic biology is considered a disruptive technology. There are currently plenty of start-ups receiving VC funding. We can help them solve their challenges through DOE and other capabilities. Synthetic biology will eventually reach a tipping point requiring companies to get on board with a synthetic biology program or lose business to companies who do get onboard faster."
You can learn more in a perspective article by the Boston Consulting Group and a list of synthetic biology companies in the JMP Journal attached in this article.
Opportunities for JMP
Biology has long been seen as a 'messy' science because of the complexities of life. The inherent variability of biological systems makes it challenging to consistently reproduce experimental results which is critical if biology wants to be a reliable manufacturing technology. Since its early days, synthetic biology has adopted frameworks and guidelines from other disciplines to make biology a true engineering discipline. One of the frameworks is the Design-Build-Test-Learn cycle: an iterative design strategy based on the cyclic process of developing an initial design or prototype, testing that prototype, analyzing its performance against specific metrics, learning what worked and what did not work, designing a new prototype based on what was learned, and completing the cycle again. The goal is to improve design or prototype quality and functionality.
The image below is another diagram showcasing the same Design-Build-Test-Learn cycle taken from a scientific research paper that goes into a bit more depth. In this diagram, I've highlighted areas where JMP has an opportunity: DoE, data processing, data analysis, statistical machine learning, and process development and scale-up.
"Sythetic biology companies have the same challenges of other process enabling technology companies: they face complex multi-variable product and process development challenges never seen before that need the combination of DOE, data management, exploratory visualisation, statistical and predictive modelling to provide the needed insight efficiently and effectively," says Malcolm.
I hope this post has sparked your interest in this field of synthetic biology! The field is still in its early years and I believe JMP has a lot to offer in helping researchers and scientists in this field and push these innovative products into the market faster.
In my next post, I will talk about the resources I have worked on for JMP. These include case studies using examples in the context of synthetic biology. Furthermore, I will talk about ways to engage with the synthetic biology community and organizations that JMP can get into contact for future collaboration.
