Competition/Tracks/Manufacturing
Manufacturing Track
Manufacturing is already an area of demonstrable success in synthetic biology. It is built on diverse history of previous work in metabolic pathway engineering with work such as the production of human insulin using recombinant DNA technologies, starting in the early 1980's. The most well known current example is likely Amyris' engineering of the antimalarial drug precursor, artemisinic acid. Other companies are demonstrating the production of transportation fuels using algal systems in photobioreactors on non-arable land.
Manufacturing will also play a big role in tissue engineering through the production of new skin, organs and other medical substrates to treat disease and injury. While these problems may seem like medical technologies, scaling them up from the bench to the clinic will very much require innovations in manufacturing.
The potential for the manufacturing track in iGEM is immense. Biological systems can be used to make products under conditions that were previously impossible. Many enzymes can achieve reaction conditions in a tube that would otherwise require high temperatures, pressures or expensive substrates to reproduce using chemical engineering methods. Another possibility is micro-scale production of drugs, therapeutics or other high-value molecules. iGEM teams who choose to work on manufacturing have a wide range of possible projects and many large challenges to overcome.
You can find images and abstracts of the winning Manufacturing teams from 2013 to 2015 in the page below. Also, follow the links below to see projects from all the Manufacturing track teams.
Aachen 2015
Upcycling Methanol into a Universal Carbon Source
Nowadays, mankind uses 94 million barrels of oil per day. But as agreed on by various nations, we have to become independent from fossil resources during the next decades. As a consequence, not only fuels, but many other products including drugs, fine chemicals and plastic will have to be produced from renewable carbon sources. In parallel, we observe arable land per capita shrinking and more frequent droughts. But even by increasing agricultural productivity, plants will not be able to meet our massive demands. Therefore, we are developing an alternative route to sustainably produce complex carbon which significantly reduces the space and water needs. By using new synthetic pathways, we are upcycling a simple, renewable chemical into a universal carbon source.
Stanford-Brown 2015
biOrigami: A New Approach to Reduce the Cost of Space Missions
Space exploration lies at the inquisitive core of human nature, yet high costs hinder the advancement of this frontier. We are harnessing the replicative properties of biology to create biOrigami—biological, self-folding origami—to reduce the mass, volume, and assembly time of materials needed for space missions. biOrigami consists of two main components: manufacturing substrates biologically and bioengineering folding mechanisms. For substrates, we are developing new BioBricks to synthesize two thermoplastics: polystyrene and polyhydroxyalkanoates. For folding mechanisms, we are using heat-induced contraction of thermoplastics and the contractile properties of bacterial spores. After consulting with experts, we believe that biOrigami could be incorporated into rovers, solar sails, and more. In addition to biOrigami, we are creating a novel method to efficiently transform bacteria by using the CRISPR/Cas9 system, benefitting the broader synthetic biology community. Our project integrates and improves manufacturing processes for space exploration on both the micro and macro levels.
