The college entrance examination volunteer application form is in full swing. What major is the most popular application this year? The "2022 College Entrance Examination Volunteer Trend Report" shows that biomedical engineering , aerospace engineering, clinical medicine , and e-commerce are the majors with the largest increase in search volume, among which biomedical engineering has increased by 31%. Synthetic biology has become a hot professional topic this year.
A few days ago, a live conversation with the theme #N possibilities of applying for synthetic biology was launched on Sina Weibo. Huaxi Biotechnology Co., Ltd. Chairman and General Manager Zhao Yan; Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering , Jiangnan UniversityProfessor Chen Jian; Qi Qingsheng, professor of the State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology of Shandong University; Artificial Intelligence scholar Gao Qingyi and several industry leaders jointly focused on the scientific development, industrial application, employment prospects of synthetic biology, etc. Conduct in-depth discussions.
Synthetic biology is a field that may produce disruptive technologies
What kind of discipline is synthetic biology? Currently, the public generally has very little knowledge about this subject.
Chen Jian, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and professor of Jiangnan University, gave an interpretation from a professional perspective during this live broadcast. He believed: "Synthetic biology is the purposeful design, transformation and resynthesis of organisms to regulate the laws of life. With a deeper understanding, it can improve the performance of organisms, better serve mankind, and produce various valuable products." Academician Chen Jian emphasized, "Synthetic biology is a field that may produce disruptive technologies."
Professor Qi Qingsheng from the State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology at Shandong University pointed out that synthetic biology is a new science, and the English definition is called design, construction of new biological parts, devices and systems. That is to build a new biological system from the source. From a scientific perspective, it refers to redesign of a natural biological, redesigning an original living body to serve our society and produce a series of products. Synthetic biology has huge benefits both in theory and application, and is a cutting-edge subject.
Zhao Yan, chairman of Huaxi Biotechnology , summarized the three major elements of synthetic biology as "reading, writing, and modifying". Through technology, the genetic information of living organisms is read and recorded, and the role of each genetic information is analyzed, and Rewrite, create, and change the sequence of genes according to human needs so that they can serve the cell factory.
Talking about the role of synthetic biology, Academician Chen Jian believes that synthetic biology has three main functions. One is as a tool and method for gene editing , which can deal with the treatment of human genetic diseases or delay aging; the other is DNA information data storage; the third is to produce various substances through cell factories to meet social needs and solve the problems and challenges caused by traditional production methods such as resources, environment, health, and sustainable development.
Professor Qi Qingsheng pointed out that the storage of DNA digital images, calculations with DNA, including the resynthesis and design of genome sequences through synthetic biology technology have long been a reality, and in the field of biomanufacturing, artificial meat , synthetic starch, synthetic Breakthroughs in organic chemical products and other aspects reflect the huge potential and charm of synthetic biology in basic research and application fields.
"Synthetic biology is an important underlying supporting technology." Zhao Yan emphasized, "In the future, various products that are closely related to our life and health, such as the packaging of mineral water beverages, functional skin care products, etc., will all be obtained through synthetic biology technology. According to Zhao Yan, synthetic biology is the most certain science and technology for mankind to cope with future uncertainties.
Synthetic biology is the underlying support for green manufacturing
When it comes to synthetic biology, the topic of "green manufacturing" cannot be avoided. The birth and development of this discipline provides new solutions to the human proposition of low-carbon, environmental protection, and sustainable development.
Regarding the value and role of synthetic biology in green manufacturing, Academician Chen Jian took artificial meat as an example.Traditional meat products are produced through livestock and poultry breeding. The process of livestock and poultry breeding will produce a large amount of greenhouse gases and also consume land and water resources. By synthesizing organisms and using cell factories for production, resource consumption and environmental pollution can be greatly reduced.
In this regard, Professor Qi Qingsheng said, “The metabolism and operation efficiency of cell factories are much higher than those of artificially built factories. The large-scale biomanufacturing of cell factories is not only highly efficient, but also has fewer metabolic by-products and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. "Reduce." According to reports, Professor Qi Qingsheng is currently also engaged in research on degradable plastics and how to degrade existing petrochemical plastics to reduce pollution. "The general degradation of petrochemical plastics takes more than hundreds of years. We are now also studying how to use some enzymes or microorganisms to degrade the plastics in bottled water faster."
"The biggest difference between green manufacturing and traditional manufacturing industries is It means lower energy consumption, lower emissions, and improved efficiency.” As a biotechnology company, Zhao Yan believes that Bloomage Biotechnology is a typical beneficiary of the development of biotechnology. She took " hyaluronic acid " produced by Bloomage Biotech as an example. Hyaluronic acid was first extracted from animal tissues such as rooster combs. In the 1990s, Dr. Guo Xueping, the current chief scientist of Bloomage Biotech, led the R&D team to extract it through microbial fermentation. Hyaluronic acid, now Huaxi Biotechnology uses microbial fermentation method (second generation biotechnology), and each liter of extraction liquid can extract 16-17g of hyaluronic acid. Through the latest synthetic biotechnology (third generation biotechnology), Bloomage Biotechnology can extract 73g of hyaluronic acid per liter of extraction solution, reducing production costs by 400 times and greatly improving efficiency.
"Synthetic biology is an important strategic development direction for our country. If we want to achieve carbon peak and carbon neutrality, synthetic biology is the underlying support for green manufacturing." Zhao Yan said, and as an enterprise, Bloomage Biotech must What we do is to transform scientific achievements into industry so that biotechnology can truly produce social and economic benefits.
