Paul Freemont's speech on engineering biology at 10 Downing Street reception

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Professor Paul Freemont, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Infectious Disease at Imperial College shares insights from his speech at the 10 Downing Street reception. Discover the dynamic landscape of UK engineering biology, where innovation meets sustainability, and explore the vibrant ecosystem of pioneering companies poised to revolutionise industries worldwide.

Good morning and I am delighted to be able to tell you about the exciting UK sector of engineering biology.

Engineering Biology is a transformative technology that will allow us to make all the products we need for a changing future where sustainability and a circular-based bioeconomy will be extremely important drivers.

For over 5,000 years we have been harnessing biology for food, shelter, energy and medicine and Engineering Biology represents the next transformative step change in our ability to responsibly utilise biology to create the next generation of sustainable services products and goods for a fully biobased bioindustrial economy.

What makes engineering biology so exciting is that it is a platform technology that can be applied to multiple industrial sectors from:

  • commodity and specialised chemicals;
  • to sustainable aviation fuels;
  • to new medicines including living therapies;
  • to sustainable alternative foods;
  • to new functional materials
  • to new pesticide and fertilizer-free crops

leading to a new wave of consumer biotechnology products that are more environmentally sustainable.

Over the last 15 years, the UK has established a world-leading academic and entrepreneurial ecosystem across many of our leading universities and research institute sectors.

And I want to give you a flavour of UK engineering biology companies that form a vibrant and dynamic ecosystem. 

For sustainable fuels, C3 Biotech an exciting SME originating from the University of Manchester is transforming waste streams into synthetic high-performance fuels using engineered microbes;

For alternative food products, there is an emerging cluster of UK Food start-ups and spin-outs aiming to develop more sustainable non-animal and non-diary food products with high nutritional value for consumers – examples include Better Diary, Hoxton Farms and Multus Media.

For materials, there are two very cool engbio start-ups originating from Imperial College aiming to design and produce new functional biomaterials for the textile and healthcare industries including fashion and sports apparel.

Solena Materials which I cofounded has developed completely novel computationally designed protein fibres for materials that don't exist in the world and the super cool Modern Synthesis which uses the ability of specific microbes to produce secret cellulose to manufacture high-end fashion products.

For chemicals, Colourifix a super exciting SME based in Norwich spun out of Cambridge University is transforming the dyeing industry by providing clean and sustainable alternative dyes by engineering bacteria to produce specific coloured dyes and also developing a completely novel textile dyeing process using fermentation.

In healthcare, Rosa Biotech is an exciting start-up from the University of Bristol aimed at developing AI-driven biosensing and diagnostics using engineering biology.

Also in healthcare, the exciting AI/ML SME labGenius originating from Imperial College is designing novel therapeutic antibodies discovery using automation, protein design and machine learning.

In regenerative medicine, the super exiling company bit.bio spun out from the University of Cambridge is using the precision reprogramming of pluripotent stem cells for the regenerative medicine market having raised an impressive >200M $.

Also in drug delivery, there is an exciting spin-out from the University of Warwick Nanosyrinx which is developing a next-generation platform technology for precision intracellular drug delivery.

In the circular bioeconomy, another exciting start-up is Scindo originating from the University of Oxford which is using AI/ML and protein design applied to novel enzymes to make valuable chemical products from plastic waste

In agritech, Ressurect Bio is an exciting spinout from the Sainsbury Lab Cambridge University (SLCU) which is using precision genome editing to reactive the natural immune systems of plants to plant / crop pathogens focusing on soya and more recently wheat to avoid the use of fertilizers and pesticides

Watch this space for new companies emerging from the University of Nottingham on using engineered microbes to use C1 gases like methane to make high-value products in a net zero way.

I have just scratched the surface of the amazing array of new engineering biology companies that are emerging from the UK educational ecosystem and I see this growing exponentially over the next few years.

The UK has an extraordinary group of engineering biology entrepreneurs who want to make an impact both on the planet we live on and also on the people who inhabit it.

As with all new technologies there are challenges particularly around scale-up and infrastructure and also long-term investment to allow UK companies to scale and become global companies but the foundations are extremely strong and with the new UK Government Engineering Biology National Vision we have an amazing opportunity not only to make the UK the global centre for engineering biology innovation but also to make a difference to society and the planet.

Thank you.

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