Berkeley Lab has capabilities in all aspects of biomanufacturing. Our teams of synthetic biologists, biochemists, and process engineers collaborate with academic groups and companies to invent innovative solutions and advance them to market readiness – changing what’s possible in fuels, therapeutics, food, personal products, and high-performance materials.

 Jay Keasling, a short-haired person wearing glasses, smiles for a headshot outdoors.

Artificial intelligence-driven design/synthetic biology

Using machine learning and cutting-edge software programs to speed up the process of designing and engineering biological pathways for producing important compounds.

Genome engineering

Using advanced gene editing tools to engineer plants and microbes capable of producing valuable, sustainable bioproducts.

Sustainable biomanufacturing

Harnessing microbes to produce biofuels and bioproducts from waste streams and other feedstocks.

Scale-up

Developing and optimizing all phases of bioproduct manufacturing processes, from host organism design to product purification.

Techno-economic analysis

Developing publicly-available techno-economic models: a type of simulation that analyzes the financial and environmental outcomes of biomanufacturing processes based on the technology used and the chemical inputs, allowing researchers to design the most efficient and responsible “recipes” for large-scale production.

Student works with plant samples on a shelf.

Inside the JBEI’s Emeryville laboratories, researchers are using the latest tools in molecular biology, chemical engineering, computational, and robotic technologies to transform biomass into biofuels and bioproducts.

 Masked scientist holding a vial.

The ABPDU collaborates with academic labs, start-ups, and established companies to accelerate new biology-based products from early R&D to market readiness.

 Two scientists sitting at a computer desk with instrumentation.

The Agile BioFoundry, a consortium of national laboratories dedicated to accelerating biomanufacturing, engineers biological systems to produce molecules at optimal yields, efficiencies, and costs.

 Two scientists working on a plant root sample.

The JGI provides integrated high-throughput sequencing, DNA design and synthesis, cell metabolite analysis, and computational analysis that helps researchers engineer better biofuel plant species and microbes that convert tough plant matter into fuel precursors like ethanol.

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This DOE Bioenergy Technologies Office-funded consortium focuses on research to transform CO2 and electrons into sustainable aviation fuels.

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Empowers the research community to harness microbiome data exploration and discovery through a collaborative integrative data science ecosystem.

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Berkeley Lab conducts unbiased analysis to evaluate the cost implications and environmental impacts of a wide range of energy technologies and strategies to support decision-making by groups.

 Deepti Tanjore, a person with long dark hair wearing a red top with black pattern, photographed against a gray backdrop.

Deepti Tanjore is Director of the Advanced Biofuels and Bioproducts Process Development Unit (ABPDU). Her research focuses on modeling the impact of bioprocess conditions on microbial heterogeneity and developing in-line analytical tools for real-time adaptation of process development in bioreactors.

 Nathan Hillson, a person with short gray hair wearing a green, brown, and white plaid shirt, photographed outdoors.

Nathan Hillson's work has spanned the realms of the private (notably as co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer at TeselaGen Biotechnologies, Inc.) and public biotechnology sectors. He leads scientists and engineers whose domain expertise spans synthetic biology, metabolic engineering, microbiology, software engineering, and laboratory automation engineering.

 Blake Simmons, a person with a gray beard wearing a black jacket over a white shirt, photographed against a gray backdrop.

Blake Simmons is the Director of Berkeley Lab's Biological Systems and Engineering Division and the Chief Science and Technology Officer at the Joint BioEnergy Institute. His research focuses on developing innovative science-based solutions that generate advanced biofuels and bioproducts produced from sustainable, non-food lignocellulosic biomass, plastic, gaseous, and mixed feedstocks.

 Two people standing on the right side of an automated lab.

Héctor García Martín, a staff scientist in the Biosciences Area, is pioneering the application of AI tools to synthetic biology to lower costs and speed the development of bio-based products like plastic alternatives, carbon-neutral fuels, and new medicines.

Research Scientist and Deputy Director of Host Engineering at the JBEI Thomas Eng is using the gene editing tool CRISPR to create a more sustainable plastic.

What do advanced medicines, renewable fuels, vegan burgers, smart fabrics, petroleum-free plastics, and cruelty-free cosmetics have in common? They’re all produced with specially engineered microbes! Yep, microbes. In episode three, we explore the fields of science making this 21st century industrial revolution possible: synthetic biology and biomanufacturing.

 A chrome-colored methane storage tank featuring the Mango Materials logo rises above a rooftop, with a cloudy blue sky and rainbow in the background. Light brown nut shells. This illustration depicts the soap bark plant and intricate structure of QS-21. Sorghum at the Agronomy Field. A digital image of server racks forming a tunnel, with glowing lines and dots resembling data flow emerging from a central light source. View of highway at sunrise with a semi coming toward the viewer.