Cellular factories - Engineering biology symposium and IMSE Annual Lecture

Prof. Kristala L.J. Prather presenting her research during IMSE's Annual Lecture

IMSE welcomed researchers in the field of Engineering Biology for an engaging symposium which concluded with Prof. Kristala Prather keynote lecture

Professor Kristala L.J. Prather from MIT delivered the Dr Theo George Wilson Lecture on the 28^th June as part of the Engineering Biology symposium organised by the Institute for Molecular Science and Engineering (IMSE).

The symposium brought together researchers from across the country for a full day of presentations, posters, and discussions around the topic of Engineering Biology. Over 100 people attended, including academics, students, policy experts, industry professionals in the field, and members of the public. The symposium and lecture are both available to watch on demand, including British Sign Language interpreters for the annual lecture.

Watch the 6^th IMSE Annual Lecture  

Watch the talks from IMSE’s Engineering Biology Symposium

Watch the Panel Discussion on Challenges and Opportunities in Engineering Biology

Engineering biology as a key technology for the UK future

Highlighted as one of the 5^th technologies in which the United Kingdom can be a leading force, engineering biology is defined as the application of engineering principles to biology. It enables researchers to design and manufacture novel biological components, systems, and materials with the aim of providing translational solutions. Engineering biology is a highly multidisciplinary field involving genomics, biotechnology, molecular engineering, biophysics, data science, evolutionary biology etc.

The symposium started with an introduction to synthetic biology, the principle on which engineering biology is built on. Research into synthetic biology starts by understanding the genes and pathways involved in a specific process, to then overexpress those genes in another organism or construct novel artificial pathways to redesign existing biological systems (i.e. making plants glow by overexpressing the gene from a glowing microbe or producing human insulin in bacteria).

Throughout the day, researchers showcased some of the broad applications of engineering biology, from visually monitoring the spread of infections (Dr Karen Sarkisyan, Light Bio and Imperial College London), drug delivery (Dr Claudia Contini, Imperial), quantification of cellular processes (Dr Miguel Paez Perez, Imperial), vaccine development (Prof Mark Howarth, University of Cambridge) and bioproduction of specific compounds. This field has great potential for sustainability as explained in  Dr Jose Jimenez’s (Imperial) talk which focused on removal of microplastics from wastewater using engineered microbes, a topic explored in the latest IMSE briefing paper. There were also presentations on technology development (Kyler Roy, Imperial), and talks highlighting that engineering biology requires prior understanding of how cells function to design better strategies for bioproduction (Dr Cinzia Klemm, Imperial).  

Challenges and opportunities for the next 5 years

An expert panel discussion including members of academia from Imperial, Professor Tom Ellis and Professor Cleo Kontoravdi, and industry, Dr Anirvan (Gogol) Guha from Multus, emphasized the potential of AI and machine learning for the future of the field. Panellists explained that engineering biology is now moving on from utilising genes/pathways found in nature to making novel artificial ones. This led to discussions on the importance of regulations keeping up to date with the technology advances, especially as synthetic biology has recently diversified into a larger variety of organisms.

Annual lecture – building microbial chemical factories

The symposium was closed by the plenary lecture of Professor Kristala Prather, Arthur D. Little Professor of Chemical Engineering, department head at MIT and leader of a collaborative research lab in the field of metabolic engineering and synthetic biology.

Professor Prather started her talk mentioning the world’s need to move from fossil materials to renewable biomass to produce sustainable fuels and other biochemicals. Her lecture focused on using cells as factories for effective and sustainable bioproduction, providing both researchers and industries new solutions. She described the cell as a reactor where numerous chemicals’ reactions are happening, which we can modulate and use to create compounds of interest. These include amino-acids, organic acids, antimicrobials, fuels, pharmaceuticals etc. Her research aims to understand how cells function, grow, and produce these compounds to then maximise productivity and reduce undesirable byproducts.

Engineering cells to create the desired chemicals requires extensive understanding of the connections/processes happening in the cell at the molecular level. Translation from academic research to industry depends on our ability to scale up for manufacturing which will bring its own considerations when using cells as factories.

The talk was followed by an enthusiastic Q&A led by Prof Amparo Galindo, IMSE Director, before a drinks reception where Professor Prather continued answering questions from early careers researchers.