The procedure of biomanufacturing necessitates engineering microorganisms to generate valuable chemicals and materials through carbon-neutral methods. Nonetheless, present biomanufacturing struggles to advance beyond small-scale production unless it can rival large oil companies.
The petrochemical sector produces chemical substances and material foundations at an economical price due to its capacity for continuous operation. However, executing microbial biomanufacturing consistently encounters various difficulties and constitutes a major obstacle for financially sustainable bioproduction.
At the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, scientists are striving to provide biomanufacturers a competitive advantage by addressing the issue of establishing continuous fermentation.
Fuzhong Zhang, the Francis F. Ahmann Professor of energy, environmental, and chemical engineering, will spearhead an interdisciplinary group to create a genetic “switch” that enables microbes to operate efficiently over prolonged periods during bioproduction.
The team, which comprises biological engineers from WashU (Professors Marcus Foston, Yinjie Tang, and Joshua Yuan), the University of California, Riverside, and Texas A&M University, has been granted up to $5.2 million from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency through the Switch initiative to address challenges in continuous fermentation.
Biomanufacturing resembles beer brewing — the most ancient form of biomanufacturing. In addition to breweries, the supplement sector utilizes these methods to create chemicals like omega-3 fatty acids available at pharmacies. These industries cultivate microorganisms, including microalgae, fungi, or bacteria, in bioreactors (large closed tanks) to generate the chemical in batches, similarly to how we use yeast byproducts to produce beer.
This batch system is employed across various sectors to manufacture products, but it is significantly less efficient than continuous fermentation, where microbes are supplied with nutrients and allowed to function for weeks or even months uninterrupted.
However, continuous fermentation frequently results in mutation or even an inexplicable halt in production, where the microbes cease to generate the desired chemical despite identical conditions.
Zhang’s team will aim to create a switchable system to keep the microbes focused on their tasks.
“Microbes evolved to replicate themselves, not to produce products for us,” explained Zhang, who also serves as the co-director of McKelvey Engineering’s Synthetic Biology Manufacturing of Advanced Materials Research Center. “Once we compel them to create a product, we’re working against evolution.”
Numerous fermentation variables can render biomanufacturing unstable. After solving one unstable variable, another workaround frequently arises elsewhere, resembling a game of whack-a-mole.
Instead of pursuing all the unpredictable reactions of the microbes, Zhang and colleagues will create tools to harness evolution to their advantage.
“The switch system will resolve issues in long-term continuous fermentation, enhancing the efficiency and lowering the costs of biomanufacturing, benefiting everyone,” Zhang stated.
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