#392

xanni@diaspora.glasswings.com

Entrepreneur, Tsung Xu, provides a helpful survey of the world of biomaterials:

Materials produced using engineered biological systems [:] Examples of biological systems include submerged, solid state or gas fermentation using engineered microbes, cell-free systems using enzymes as catalysts and finally mammalian cell cultures.

Biologics (microbe-produced drugs) comprised about a third of US pharma sales in 2018. Lower margin segments, like speciality chemicals or e-fuels, are smaller but seeing substantial growth in the past 2-3 years.

Xu argues that a more mature and competitive “synthetic biology” stack is helping more firms get started, helped by the exponential price declines in DNA sequencing, synthesis and cell engineering.

The benefits are rather clear: biomaterials may be better materials than traditional industrially-produced petro-derivatives. They might have better technical performance, be more fine-tuned for specific applications, be produced locally (because of modular manufacturing systems) and, through the use of renewable energy and closed-loop processes, have a minimal environmental impact.

🔮 Biomaterials; EVs in China; satellites; bionic organs and rewilding++ #392

Via Future Crunch Oct 7, 2022