How can we design robust manufacturing metabolisms and reconsider the bioreactor?

Abstract

Biological manufacturing platforms open exciting opportunities to generate new materials, replace extractive processes, and perform ecosystem services through the deployment of metabolic pathways that are both found in nature and engineered. Further possibilities are generated through inter-kingdom collaborations and consortia-based pathways for manufacturing or biodegradation. In tandem, bioreactor technologies to support biocatalysis or bioconversion through novel immobilisation techniques enable flexibility in deployment. The intersection of physical, chemical and biological parameters within a novel bioreactor design will influence performance and stability in contexts beyond the sterility of the production facility. The nature and scale of new applications may invite unconventional production systems, or even consider in situ manufacturing as a potential way of disrupting centralised manufacturing and distribution processes. We may also consider how new technologies underpinning this approach could help us move beyond linear supply chains towards an embodiment of industrial ecology principles. We invite contributions that go beyond optimisation of a single pathway for product formation under conventional homogeneous conditions. Responses to this question will explicitly challenge how we currently design bioreactors through aspects of spatial distribution, connected systems or facilitating novel metabolic assemblages for multi-functional biosynthetic outputs.