“This was an amazing week for synthetic biology community, part of the reason is the synthetic biology has completed 10 years since the very first synthetically engineered biological oscillator and toggle switch were introduced in journal Nature (sic) in year 2000. So on this eve I have decided that the title of this blog post “This week in synthetic biology” is going to be a regular section of Fisheye Perspective blog appearing on every weekend. Initially I will be posting a link round up for a week which will include excerpts from peer reviewed articles, news items and interesting tweets. But I have few interesting future plans including a podcast series TWISB (covering both Systems and Synthetic Biology) in close association of fellow synthetic and systems biology bloggers.”
It sounds like it’s worth checking out. Stay tune for Abhishek’s next post.
Novozymes today offered members of the media, government officials, VIPs and other attendees of the annual Washington Auto Show a chance to test drive of Chevy HHR powered (literally) by government waste. The fuel used in the car was produced from government office wastepaper and waste cardboard by Fiberight. Novozymes President Adam Monroe previewed the effort on Clean Skies TV.
Also at the show, auto parts maker Ricardo Inc. is displaying a GMC Sierra 3500HD pickup that has been optimized to run on a 30% to 50% blend of ethanol. According to one report, the car heavy duty truck is expected to maintain power while cutting engine size and improving fuel economy by 30%.
“Secretary of the Navy, Ray Mabus emphasised how partnering with USDA supports his vision for energy reform. He said, ‘In order to secure the strategic energy future of the United States, create a more nimble and effective fighting force, and protect our planet from destabilizing climate changes, I have committed the Navy and Marine Corps to meet aggressive energy targets that go far beyond previous measures.
Mabus announced five energy targets for the Navy and Marine Corps, with biofuels a major component. This includes developing ships with hybrid electric alternative power systems running on biofuel, and aircraft running on biofuel. The navy will also aim to cut petroleum use in its 50,000 non-tactical commercial fleet in half, by phasing in hybrid, flex fuel and electric vehicles, by 2015.”
“These Iowa State research projects are paid for by stimulus bucks … the same money that is funding the $44 million to the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis, Mo. (…..) and the $34 million (plus $8.4 million in non-federal, cost-share funding) that is going to the National Advanced Biofuels Consortium led by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo., and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Wash.”
Biofuels Digest is running a special update on biomass and algae. That is, they are showcasing meeting highlights, from the Pacific West Biomass Conference in Sacramento. One hot issue according to Biofuels Digest was the,
“conflicting definitions of biomass and what qualifies as a legitimate source or conversion process. The conflicts run across the standards for earning carbon credits and renewable energy credits, attaining the Renewables Portfolio Standard (for utilities), meeting AB32 carbon reduction goals, and meeting California Integrated Waste Management Board landfill diversion goals. These issues reach beyond California since the State’s standards strongly affect those of many other States.”
Other topics discussed were amplifying feedstocks, biomass investment, learning from one another, and diversity of the biomass industry cluster.
Green Inc. a New York Times blog writes about increased funding for biofuels. They have this to say,
“The United States Department of Energy announced last week more than $80 million in financing from the economic stimulus package for a new national program dedicated to biofuels research.
The goal is not only to develop high energy, dense fuels, but also to figure out how to use existing infrastructure as much as possible to save costs, said John Holladay, head of biomass research at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, one of the groups leading the program.”
And that is why biotech innovation brings us hope for a better future.
“Researchers from the Biotechnology Foundation Laboratories at Thomas Jefferson University have developed a new method to increase the quantity of oil in tobacco leaves. So that oil in tobacco leaves can be utilized as biofuels in future. Their paper was published in Plant Biotechnology Journal which is an online journal.”
“According to Dr. Andrianov, “Tobacco is very attractive as a biofuel because the idea is to use plants that aren’t used in food production. We have found ways to genetically engineer the plants so that their leaves express more oil. In some instances, the modified plants produced 20-fold more oil in the leaves.””
That’s another feedstock to add to the list.
Xconomy in Seattle has come up with the top five innovations to watch in the coming decade. They are:
The Return of Nanotechnology
Industrial Applications of Synthetic Biology
P4 Medicine. A term coined by Leroy Hood to embody Personalized, Predictive, Preventive, and Participatory medicine.
Merger of the ‘Cloud’ Computing and Mobile Devices.
And now, the fifty hottest companies in bioenergy announced by Biofuels Digest for 2009-2010. Well it’s a long list so we won’t tell you who all fifty are, but you can find that list on the Biofuels Digest web site. The first five are:
We are looking for biotech humanitarians for our annual Biotech Humanitarian Award. The award recognizes an everyday hero who has helped to heal, fuel or feed the planet through their work in biotechnology. Know someone that you feel should be recognized for their good works? Nominate someone at www.iambiotech.org/award through January 31, 2010.
2009 Biotech Humanitarian Dr. Jay Keasling, was nominated by a colleague at the University of California at Berkley. Just think, you or your colleague could be the next honoree.
The Biotech Humanitarian Award and the $10,000 prize will be bestowed on the Honoree during the 2010 BIO International Convention in Chicago, Illinois, May 3-6, 2010.
Last month, Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced 19 biomass projects that would receive renewable energy grants under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The list included 14 pilot, 4 demonstration, and 1 commercial-scale project, receiving a total of $561 million in grants ranging in size from $2.5 million to $81 million. The projects will be located in 15 different states.
Additionally, Vilsack announced a $54.5 million Biorefinery Assistance Program loan guarantee for Sapphire Energy, one of the projects that received a grant to turn algae into jet fuel and diesel. The project will be constructed in Columbus, New Mexico.
Most interesting about the list is that it is not limited to liquid transportation biofuels. Many of the projects will co-produce renewable chemicals — specifically mentioned are plans to produce potassium acetate, ethyl acrylate, and succinic acid.
The grants are intended to underwrite an equal share of private investment in the projects. That may confound the prediction of Seeking Alpha’s Neil Dikeman, who predicts, “The last petal of the last bloom off the biofuel rose falls by the anniversary of Pearl Harbor in 2010.” While small biofuels producers may not have “the horsepower, expertise, or balance sheet” to compete against the oil giants, the production of renewable and specialty chemicals may provide a handhold in the market.
“New Mexico’s elected officials want to develop a strategic plan to make the state a leader in the biofuels industry.
Gov. Bill Richardson said New Mexico is in a good position when it comes to biofuels, given its combination of economic policies, business infrastructure, natural resources and scientific expertise.
State leaders and the Southwestern Biofuels Association are planning a series of meetings over the next three months that will bring together dozens of experts from industry, science, education, agriculture and government to begin developing a roadmap for growing the state’s biofuels industry.
Officials expect to have a proposal completed by mid-April. The public will have an opportunity to comment on the plan.”
We look forward to seeing that proposal and will keep you posted.
in, “Algae-based Biofuels faster to produce than Conventional Ethanol, E85, Biodiesel”
Algae is fast becoming a new area in industrial and environmental technology, with wide ranging possibilities. Stay tuned to our site for updates in the area.
Wow, what a blog post title, “Synthetic Biology: Why Not Pursuing Crazy Biotech Is Dangerous.” The the crew at Gizmodo who came up with that title talks with Michael Spector who covers science for the New Yorker and is the author of Denialism: How Irrational Thinking Hinders Scientific Progress, Harms the Planet, and Threatens Our Lives.
The Gizmodo crew says about their discussion with Specter,
“For our discussion—fitting the theme of This Cyborg Life—we singled out synthetic biology, a pursuit, as Specter describes it, that “by combining elements of engineering, chemistry, computer science and molecular biology, seeks nothing less than to assemble the biological tools necessary to redesign the living world.”
To find out what Specter had to say about synthetic biology read the blog.
Xconomy attended presentations organized by Biocom, San Diego’s life sciences industry group. Xconomy says according to industry experts at the conference,
“As startups developing next-generation biofuels emerge in San Diego, Boston, and elsewhere, a business model for rapidly expanding to commercial-scale operations already can be found in the biotech industry”
“The premise of presentations organized by Biocom, San Diego’s life sciences industry group, is that collaborations being formed between biofuel startups and big energy are comparable to the partnerships formed between biotech startups and big pharmaceutical companies.”
“The Wired story, written as a first-person account by a friend of the winning team, describes arriving at MIT with the crew from the UK: “seven rainbow-haired undergraduates who spent their summer engineering a new kind of E.coli that secretes a palette of seven colors, christened E. chromi after a tense online vote.”
To find out more about iGEM, check out the slice of MIT.
In industrial biotechnology this week the Wall Street Cheat Sheet says algae is the next great thing.
“Algae could be the most promising candidate yet for the future of the biofuels industry.
Although algae-based fuels won’t be commercially available for several years, algae offers several advantages over other first-generation renewable fuels, such as corn and soybeans. For example, algae grows faster, requires less resources, can be used as jet fuel, can use existing distribution systems, and absorbs carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses.”
The post closes with,
“All of this syncs up neatly with a White House concerned with climate change and looking to develop “green energy” technologies with long economic coattails.
While it may be too early to call algae the clear winner in the biofuels race, at least for now, the future of algae-based biofuels looks bright.”
“In Hawaii, at the BIO Pacific Rim Summit, Joule Biotechnologies announced that it has achieved direct microbial conversion of CO2 into hydrocarbons via engineered organisms, powered by solar energy.
Joule’s Helioculture process mixes sunlight and CO2 with highly engineered photo synthetic organisms, which are designed to secrete ethanol, diesel or other products.
However, unlike algae and other current biomass-derived fuels, the Helioculture process does not produce biomass, requires no agricultural feedstock and minimizes land and water use. It is also direct-to-product, so there is no lengthy extraction and/or refinement process.”
Sounds interesting, guess we’ll have to stay tuned.
“projects selected for more than $24 million in grants to research and develop technologies to produce biofuels, bioenergy and high-value biobased products. Of the $24.4 million announced today, DOE plans to invest up to $4.9 million with USDA contributing up to $19.5 million. Advanced biofuels produced through this funding are expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50 percent compared to fossil fuels.”
