Biomaterials have been used for millennia, now they’re taking the next leap. Industrial biotechnology is enabling the engineering and market-scale production of biomaterials for everyday life. Your favorite brand of detergent will soon have next generation chemicals that are not only high performing but do not require harmful chemicals made from fossil fuels. For thousands of years we’ve made clothes out of silk, cotton, and leather. Now, these expensive and industrially cultivated fibers can be made from engineered microbes, consuming less water, energy, and land in the process. Scientists are also engineering microbes to recycle plastics, produce biodegradable plastics, or even replace plastics with fungal mycelium. In the future, your local supermarket will be stocked with high performance, planet-friendly materials, made with less inputs and better quality.

Check out this Nature Review to learn more.

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Plant genetics has come a long way since Gregor Mendel’s peas. Now scientists and engineers create plant coatings that protect and invigorate early plant growth, also allowing early planting and less fertilizer. New engineered microbes help plants easily access nitrogen in the soil, reducing farmers’ costs and reducing algae blooms from soil runoff. Not only can we engineer biology to assist the plants, but we can also engineer the plants themselves, allowing for efficient land usage, improved survival, and increased yields. Through genetic engineering we can feed the future, help the planet, and lower farmer costs. Scientists can now address some of the biggest challenges in food scarcity by engineering agricultural operations for unique environments. Check out this article to see how biotechnology is meeting Africa’s need for resilient agriculture.

Carbon capture is not the headline. Utilization by living factories is. Bioengineered microbes, algae, and plants can fix CO2 and route it into fuels, polymers, and everyday ingredients.

Think cyanobacteria that use sunlight to turn CO2 into chemicals, acetogenic bacteria that eat CO2 plus hydrogen to make ethanol and jet fuel precursors, and engineered yeasts that convert CO2-derived feedstocks into oils and surfactants.

Picture neighborhood biorefineries that grow these industrial trees in tanks, harvesting rubber precursors, plastics, and gasoline substitutes without drilling. The organisms pull carbon from air, flue gas, and fermentation off gases, then upgrade it into valuable products. This is a closed carbon loop built from biology, not oil wells.

Check out this article for a deeper dive.

Instead of digging new mines, drilling new oil wells, expanding landfills, or shipping virgin materials across oceans, we harvest what we already discard and turn it into fresh feedstocks for industry. Biorecovery closes material loops, lowers extraction risk, and builds local supply chains that scale with electricity and bioprocessing capacity rather than new pits.

In e-waste recycling, tailored microbes and bio-based ligands can solubilize and selectively recover metals like copper, gold, and rare earths from shredded electronics, supplying cleaner inputs for chips and batteries.

In wastewater and flue gas, algae and microbial consortia remove nitrogen, phosphorus, and CO2, then convert them into fertilizers, bio-oils, and platform chemicals.

In plastics and textiles, designer enzymes depolymerize PET and polyurethane into monomers that microbes rebuild into new polymers and other high-value materials.

Check out this article for a deeper dive.

Tomorrow's textiles, detergents, and everyday materials will increasingly come from biology. Novel enzymes and engineered microbes replace petroleum chemistry with lower-impact, fermentation-made routes. Engineered textiles, algae-based skin care, and fermentation-derived antioxidants already show biology can deliver performance and sustainability.

Living materials bring biology into the home: bioluminescent plants and algae offer low-energy light and learning opportunities, while engineered plants can reduce surface and air pathogen.

With responsible design, testing, and oversight, consumer biotechnology can make homes healthier and change our relationship with nature.

Learn more here.