BrisEngBio: From Synthetic to Engineering Biology at Bristol

合成生物学可以被定义为将物理和工程原理应用于生物组件和系统的设计或重新设计。其目的是学习如何操纵生物分子和系统，以产生新的合成生物功能和设备。这推动了基础科学的发展，并提出了应对跨越医药、食品安全和环境的紧迫挑战的途径。事实上，即使在合成生物学的早期，人们一直渴望合成生物学将为改变生活的新生物技术打开大门。在过去的十年里，通过一项名为合成生物学促进增长的计划，英国研究委员会(现统称为UKRI)在定义合成生物学是什么并将其确立为英国大学和研究机构的主流科学活动方面处于世界领先地位。这一举措非常成功，目前在英国各地有几个由英国皇家国际研究院资助的英才中心。其中一个是布里斯托尔大学的，名为BrisSynBio。该中心进行基础合成生物学研究，帮助培训下一代合成生物学家，并开展外联和公众参与活动。BrisSynBio还直接导致了几家新的生物技术公司的成立。UKRI现在通过一个名为国家工程生物学计划(NEBP)的新倡议在这个平台上建立起来。这样做的目的是通过促进和支持应用合成生物学来实现合成生物学的全部潜力，以启动一个新的和变革性的生物技术部门。NEBP在研究和创新方面提出了几个主题，以应对当前在生物医学、清洁增长、食品系统和环境方面的社会挑战。基于BrisSynBio的成功和坚实的基础，我们建议成立一个新的布里斯托尔工程生物学中心，BrisEngBio，以应对NEBP的抱负和挑战。BrisEngBio将汇集来自布里斯托尔大学11个学院和4个学院的55名生物和物理科学家、计算专家和理论家以及工程师。这些研究人员将在多学科团队中共同努力，解决将影响上述几个重大社会挑战的紧迫科学和技术问题。这些包括：设计新的蛋白质分子来诊断并修复与活细胞中的疾病相关的问题；利用新发现的深海海绵细菌菌株来生产新一代抗生素；开发将具有生物活性的化合物和药物输送到活生物体的不同方法；以及了解微生物如何被结合到复合材料中，以安装新的物理特性，并对广泛的制造过程产生影响。支持这些项目的大部分工作是基础科学。然而，通过所谓的“基础科学翻译”，利用这项工作的成果来解决现实世界的问题也有相当大的潜力。为了实现这一点并确保BrisEngBio的科学推向市场，我们将聘请一名专门的合成生物学和生物技术专家创新经理。除了与BrisEngBio的研究人员合作外，他们还将通过专利或许可交易帮助保护知识产权，与当地和国家行业联系以促进合作和伙伴关系，并在适当的情况下，就将新的生物技术公司剥离到布里斯托尔不断增长和充满活力的生物经济中提供建议。为了支持这一点，我们计划与当地一家名为Science Creates的公司合作，该公司为新的生物技术公司提供孵化器空间，为早期职业研究人员和未来的生物企业家提供培训活动，并在需要时接触到所需的投资者，以便在最初的公共资助研究之外资助生物技术项目。

Synthetic biology can be defined as the application of physical and engineering principles to the design or redesign of biological components and systems. The aim is to learn how to manipulate biological molecules and systems to generate new synthetic biological functions and devices. This advances fundamental science, and it presents routes to tackle pressing challenges spanning medicine, food security, and the environment. Indeed, even in the early days of synthetic biology, there was always the aspiration that synthetic biology would open doors to new biotechnologies to transform lives.Over the past ten years, through a programme called Synthetic Biology for Growth, the UK Research Councils (now collectively called UKRI) were world-leading in defining what synthetic biology is and establishing it as mainstream scientific activity in UK universities and research institutes. This has been extremely successful and there are now several UKRI-funded centres of excellence around the UK. One of these is at the University of Bristol and is called BrisSynBio. This centre conducts fundamental synthetic-biology research, helps train the next generation of synthetic biologists, and performs outreach and public-engagement activities. BrisSynBio has also led directly to the incorporation of several new biotechnology companies.The UKRI is now building on this platform through a new initiative called the National Engineering Biology Programme (NEBP). The aim of this is to realise the full potential of synthetic biology by promoting and supporting the application of this science to kick-start a new and transformative biotechnology sector. The NEBP poses several themes in research and innovation to address current societal challenges in biomedicine, clean growth, food systems, and the environment. Based on the success and firm foundation of BrisSynBio, we propose a new Bristol Centre for Engineering Biology, BrisEngBio, to address the aspirations and challenges of the NEBP.BrisEngBio will bring together 55 biological & physical scientists, computational experts & theoreticians, and engineers from 11 Schools and 4 Faculties across the University of Bristol. Together, these researchers will work in multidisciplinary teams to tackle pressing scientific and technology problems that will impact several of the above grand societal challenges. These include: designing new protein molecules to diagnose and then repair problems associated with diseases in living cells; harnessing newly discovered strains of bacteria from deep-sea sponges to produce a new generation of antibiotics; developing different ways of delivering biologically active compounds and medicines into living organisms; and understanding how microbes might be incorporated into composite materials to install new physical properties with impacts across a wide range of manufacturing processes.Much of the work that underpins these projects is fundamental science. However, there is also considerable potential to use results from this work to solve real-world problems through the so-called "translation of basic science". To enable this and to best ensure that BrisEngBio's science is brought to market, we will employ a dedicated Innovation Manager who is an expert in synthetic biology and biotechnology. As well as working with BrisEngBio researchers, they will help to protect intellectual property through patents or licensing deals, liaise with local and national industry to foster collaborations and partnerships, and, when appropriate, advise on spinning out new biotech companies into Bristol's growing and vibrant bioeconomy. To support this, we plan to work with a local company called Science Creates, which provides incubator space for new biotechnology companies, training activities for early career researchers and future bio-entrepreneurs, and, when needed, access to the investors required to fund biotechnology ventures beyond the initial publicly funded research.