Industrialization Of Biology Report Released By The National Academies

On March 13, 2015, the National Academies issued Industrialization
Of Biology: A Roadmap To Accelerate The Advanced Manufacturing Of Chemicals,
a 143-page report prepared in response to a request from the U.S. Department of
Energy (DOE) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) to “develop a
roadmap of necessary advances in basic science and engineering capabilities,
including knowledge, tools and skills” to accelerate the advanced
manufacturing of chemicals using biological systems. Thirteen committee members
with expertise in synthetic biology, metabolic engineering, molecular biology,
microbiology, systems biology, synthetic chemistry, chemical engineering,
bioinformatics, systems integration, metrology, chemical manufacturing, and law
and bioethics worked together with researchers to create a technical roadmap
for the future of the biochemicals industry. The report, with chapters
including “Industrial Biotechnology: Past and Present,” “Vision
of the Future: What New Chemicals Could Be Made?,” and “How Do We Get
There?,” examines the regulatory and societal factors limiting the
adoption of bioprocessing in the chemical industry today and makes
recommendations for EPA, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and other agencies responsible for
governance of existing and emerging biobased chemicals. A prepublication
version of the report is available now, with a final publication date to be
announced.