Engineering Biology Hub for Microbial Food

我们建议建立一个微生物食品工程生物学中心。该中心的目标是利用工程生物学和微生物食品这两个重要科学领域的共同潜力，将我们现有的食品生产体系转变为更有利于环境、更能适应气候或政治冲击的体系，并为消费者提供更健康、更美味的产品。背景：当前的粮食系统是不可持续的。传统农业和农业对气候变化的影响很大，而令人震惊的粮食浪费又加剧了气候变化。对地球的破坏反映在对人类健康的影响上：全球很大一部分人口营养不良，而与超加工和高热量饮食有关的疾病继续增加。我们生产和消费粮食的方式必须改变，如果我们有机会实现清洁增长的目标，就必须迅速改变。微生物食品——由酵母和真菌等微生物生产——提供了一种实现这种迫切需要的转化的方法。微生物食品是使用不同类型的发酵生产的，该过程用于生产大量蛋白质和其他营养物质（生物质发酵），调节和加工动植物源产品（传统发酵）或生产新的食品成分（精密发酵）。微生物生长迅速，不需要大量的土地或水来生长，并且可以使用食物副产品（“食物垃圾”）作为原料。此外，微生物食品受恶劣天气的影响较小，可以在当地生产，从而降低运输成本、碳足迹和我们对食品进口的依赖。工程生物学将工程原理应用于生物学，使科学家能够建立和制造新的生物系统和产品。工程生物学的工具最近被应用于优化微生物食品生产，微生物现在可以被操纵得更多产、更美味、更有营养。将工程生物学应用于微生物食品有可能从根本上改变食品的生产方式，这为解决我们这个时代一些最关键的健康和可持续性挑战创造了一个重要而及时的机会。中心：这是世界上第一个这样的中心，新的中心将建立在英国在工程生物学和微生物食品方面世界领先的专业知识和设施的基础上。它将把学者、工业合作伙伴、食品组织和消费者聚集在一起，开展一项广泛而雄心勃勃的工作计划，为从科学研究到新食品上架创造一条明确的路线。该中心活动的核心将是11个研究项目，每个项目都解决一个单独的挑战，如果要实现大规模生产各种微生物食品，就需要克服这个挑战。项目将使用尖端的工程生物学方法，并将受益于该中心对教育、监管和商业化的额外关注，以确保研究成果转化为有意义的效益。总体而言，我们的目标是：-推进如何利用工程生物学生产微生物食品的研究-开发利用工程生物学开发微生物食品的新能力-为这项研究开辟新的路线，造福人类健康和环境可持续性。实现这些目标将使中心成为国际公认的研究参考。工程生物学在微生物食品应用方面的创新和转化——展示英国在该领域的领导地位，吸引全球最优秀的人才，提供更可持续、更高效、更有弹性和更健康的食品系统。

We propose the creation of an Engineering Biology Hub for Microbial Foods. The aim of the Hub is to harness the joint potential of two important scientific fields - engineering biology and microbial foods - in order to transform our existing food production system into one that is better for the environment, more resilient to climatic or political shocks, and that gives consumers healthier and tastier products. Background: Current food systems are unsustainable. Traditional farming and agriculture contribute significantly to climate change, and this is exacerbated by the alarming levels of food waste. Damage to the planet is mirrored by impacts on human health: a significant portion of the global population suffers malnutrition, while diseases linked to ultra-processed and high-calorie diets continue to rise. The way we produce and consume food has to change, and to change quickly if we are to have any chance of meeting targets for clean growth. Microbial foods - produced by microorganisms like yeast and fungi - offer a way to make this urgently needed transformation. Microbial foods are produced using different types of fermentation, with this process employed to produce large quantities of protein and other nutrients (biomass fermentation), to modulate and process plant and animal-derived products (traditional fermentation) or to produce new food ingredients (precision fermentation). Microbes grow rapidly, don't need large amounts of land or water to grow, and can use food by-products ('food waste') as feedstocks. In addition, microbial foods are less affected by adverse weather and can be produced locally - reducing transport costs, carbon footprint, and our dependence on food imports.Engineering biology applies engineering principles to biology, enabling scientists to build and manufacture novel biological systems and products. Tools from engineering biology have recently been applied to optimise microbial food production, and microbes can now be manipulated to be more productive, tastier and more nutritious. Applying engineering biology to microbial foods has the potential to radically change the way food is produced, and this creates an important and timely opportunity to address some of the most critical health and sustainability challenges of our time. The Hub:The first of its kind in the world, the new Hub will build on the UK's world-leading expertise and facilities in engineering biology and microbial foods. It will bring together academics, industrial partners, food organisations and consumers in a wide-ranging and ambitious programme of work that creates a clear route from scientific research to new food products on the shelf. At the heart of the Hub's activity will be eleven research projects, each addressing a separate challenge that needs to be overcome if large-scale production of diverse microbial food products is to be achieved. Project will use cutting-edge engineering biology methods, and will benefit from the Hub's additional focus on education, regulation and commercialisation, to ensure research outputs are translated into meaningful benefits. Overall, our objectives are :- To advance research into how engineering biology can be used to produce microbial foods - To develop new capabilities for developing microbial foods using engineering biology - To open new routes for this research to benefit human health and environmental sustainability Meeting these objectives will establish the Hub as an internationally-recognised reference for research, innovation and translation in the application of engineering biology to microbial foods - demonstrating UK leadership in this field, attracting the best global talent, and delivering more sustainable, productive, resilient and healthy food systems.