Welcome to the second installment in our latest series exploring cutting-edge technological trends that excite us as deep-tech investors. Our previous post covered the innovative developments in the world of Advanced Materials, focusing on the infrastructure and tools accelerating material development and discovery. Today, we turn our attention to a field that truly captivates us: Synthetic Biology.
Imagine bacteria programmed to go inside specific human cells and to produce custom materials on demand. These "cellular payloads" are equipped with biological switches that activate only under precise conditions, allowing the bacteria to perform their designated function and then self-destruct automatically. This is one of the groundbreaking possibilities unlocked by Synthetic Biology (SynBio), a field that’s revolutionizing our approach to biological systems.
SynBio combines molecular biology, genetics, and bioengineering, treating living systems as programmable machines to design novel materials and to unlock new modes of generating materials. Just as the Industrial Revolution enabled humans to design purpose-built machines, SynBio now allows us to engineer entire biological systems to achieve specific objectives, thereby broadening the set of “tools” available to humanity to solve complex global challenges.
Looking towards the future, the potential applications of synbio are nothing short of extraordinary. SynBio can enable personalized medicine tailored to an individual's genetic makeup, potentially eradicating genetic diseases. There are startups such as Zero Cow Factory that are working on producing proteins via fermentation of genetically engineered microbes that will ensure food security. Scientists are working on designing microorganisms that can produce biofuels and clean up environmental contaminants & create artificial leaves that can directly capture CO2 from the atmosphere. Environment friendly colors, chemicals, enzymes and even artificial leather and silk are being produced using SynBio.
While the possibilities are endless, we’d like to do a deep-dive on SynBio applications in Health in this post. In particular we are actively looking at the following 3 themes:
- Targeted Drug Delivery: Current drug delivery systems often distribute medication throughout the body, leading to side effects and reduced efficacy. Synbio can design nanoparticles or synthetic encapsulation that precisely target diseased cells, reducing side effects and improving treatment efficacy. We have come across companies creating smart drug delivery systems that respond to specific cellular environments or external stimuli that ensures drugs are released only at the desired site.
- Regenerative Medicine: There is always a shortage of donor tissues and organs that limits the availability of transplants. Combined with that patients often face the risk of their bodies rejecting transplanted tissues or organs. Advances in bioprinting technology, driven by synthetic biology, allow for the precise construction of complex tissues and organs layer by layer. This can enable the creation of customized tissues and organs using a patient’s own cells, reducing the risk of rejection.
- Drug Testing: Traditional drug testing on animals raises ethical issues and often does not accurately predict human responses. The process is lengthy and expensive, with a high failure rate in later stages of development. Synbio can help develop microfluidic devices that simulate human organs, providing more accurate and ethical platforms for drug testing. Synthetic tissues that mimic human biology can offer more reliable models for testing drug efficacy and safety.
If you are as excited about the potential of SynBio in transforming human lives and are actively working towards making it a reality, please reach out to us. With our focus on breakthrough technologies, we'd love to partner with you in your journey!