CSIRO has invested $25 million up to 2027 in a new program that will ‘harness the building blocks of life to solve intractable problems’, expanding the agency’s research through projects such as the production of animal-free dairy.
Advanced Engineering Biology (AEB) is the latest of CSIRO’s Future Science Platforms (FSP) program, aimed at discovering future breakthroughs in new and emerging areas of science.
Dr Robert Speight, director of CSIRO’s AEB FSP, said the program will integrate engineering and biology to develop solutions for broad-ranging issues from the environment and energy transition to food security and human health.
For example, researchers at CSIRO’s Food Innovation Centre in Victoria are using expertise in flavour and texture to create animal-free dairy with the same taste as milk but free from lactose free and cholesterol friendly.
Working with yeast synthetic biology researchers and the National Biologics Facility, the scientists begin with a yeast and then produce the same caseins and whey proteins that are found in cow’s milk, using precision fermentation.
Using this work to finesse a product for market, Australian start-up Eden Brew launched in July 2021 to take the animal-free dairy product from the laboratory to consumers. Last year, the company raised $5 million to scale its precision fermentation milk production, launch its ice cream NPD, and build its in-house science capabilities.
Eden Brew is backed by Norco, venture capital firm, Main Sequence and CSIRO. Once CSIRO’s scientists have refined the technology, production will occur as part of Norco’s operations.
“We’re only just scratching the surface of engineering biology’s potential. The field is moving fast, and there’s still a lot left to discover about the biological building blocks of life – how they work, and how we could use them.
“The applications of engineering biology are varied and range from improving plants to sequester carbon more effectively, to manufacturing sustainable alternatives to animal proteins, petroleum fuels, and harmful pesticides, and even engineering biosensors that can make on-the-spot medical diagnoses,” Speight said.
The program will also focus on new biomanufacturing capabilities, as well as developing the very technologies that underpin engineering biology, to make it faster, more predictable, and higher performing.
It will also conduct detailed research on the public’s expectations, attitudes, and perceptions to help guide the responsible development of biotechnology.
The market for bio-based chemicals – such as biofuels, bioplastics, bio-based solvents, acids, lubricants, and alcohols – is expected to be worth roughly $240 billion by 2030.
Bio-based chemicals are chemical products derived from renewable biological resources, such as plants, crops, agricultural waste or microorganisms.
CSIRO deputy chief scientist, Dr Jill Freyne said Australia has an opportunity to position itself as a world leader in the rapidly expanding biotechnology sector.
“The Advanced Engineering Biology FSP is about unlocking the transformative potential of engineering biology to underpin transitions to new industries, enable circular economies, and realise vast benefits for society and the environment,” Freyne said.
The research carried out by the AEB FSP over the next four years will also interface with other fast-advancing fields, such as machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI).
“AI is transforming what we do, making the design of new biotechnologies faster and more predictable than ever before.
"For example, it promises new ways of developing biosensors that mean we can now do in weeks what used to take years. The technology is rapidly progressing, and we need to stay at the leading edge of it,” Speight said.
