Plant, Microbial, and Algal Sciences to Support Sustained and Improved Supply of Natural Products

Plants, together with algae and microbes, are the primary sources for all bio-based products. Through photosynthetic processes, plants convert carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to organic matter that is an essential feedstock for generating renewable products and fuels. Microbes produce valuable natural products also through biochemical pathways.

With the global growth and social development of the human population, the demands for new types of natural products are increasing generating a need to scale-up optimized production of a broad range of organisms (plants, algae, microbes) and bioprocesses. These include production of plants for both primary and secondary food supply, as well as production of natural chemical products and many types of renewable materials, such as natural fibers.  

Furthermore, climate change already affects humans in many ways, but it also affects the natural processes essential for bio-based production. Direct effects on human life and eco systems are noticeable changes in weather patterns and increase in natural disasters. Changes that are less direct occur through the growing intensity and frequency of insect attacks, droughts, wildfires, and global stressors like air pollution affecting the living organisms that our lives depend on. Climate change, together with food security, energy independence, and environmental sustainability, are all key factors that influence or constrain the emerging and increasingly important bioeconomy, encompassing products, services, and processes derived from biological resources e.g., plants and microorganisms.

Recognizing the opportunities and threats, currently over 40 countries have national strategies relating to the ‘bioeconomy’ (the economic potential of bioscience) and/or synthetic biology. A critical cornerstone to scientific and economic competitiveness of the development of bioeconomy is the potential to modify living organisms through synthetic biology to enhance productivity and adaptability to meet productivity goals in a changing climate.

Under the umbrella of RBI’s Science and Engineering of Natural Feedstocks research, our overall goal is to identify and characterize natural and engineered production of feedstock materials to meet future demands. Our research includes:

• Efforts to find new natural products and understand how such products can be produced 
  • Employ reverse engineering to find new pathways for manufacturing specific natural products
  • Based on crystal structures of existing enzymes, engineer new enzymes for tailored biotechnological applications 
• Utilizing a systems and synthetic biology approach to understand the metabolism of plants and other organisms to design organisms 
  • With higher adaptability to future climate change 
  • Increased productivity 
  • Production of tailored and improved products that can serve as feedstocks to pulp mills and biorefineries
• Understanding the underlying mechanisms for propagation of organisms to design methods for large-scale, cost-effective propagation of improved plants, algae, and microbes
  • By establishing effective protocols for manufacturing organisms with novel characteristics
  • Design methods allowing for in vitro clonal propagation
  • Apply automation and technology based on machine learning for scalable propagation