Biomanufacturing

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.

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.

Advanced Biofuels and Bioproducts Process Development Unit (ABPDU)

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

Agile BioFoundry

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.

Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI)

Student works with plant samples on a shelf.

Inside 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.

Joint Genome Institute (JGI)

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.

National Microbiome Data Collaborative

Green field in front of blue, cloud-filled sky.

This multi-national lab program led by Berkeley Lab empowers the research community to harness microbiome data exploration and discovery through a collaborative integrative data science ecosystem.

CO2-to-Fuels Consortium

This DOE Alternative Fuels and Feedstocks Office-funded consortium focuses on research to transform CO2 and electrons into sustainable aviation fuels.

Techno-economic analysis

Exterior view of a glowing energy industrial factory at sunset.

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.

Person wearing glasses, blue collared shirt and blue outerjacket

Chris Petzold has extensive experience using bioanalytical and biophysical techniques to further the rational design and optimization of novel metabolic pathways in microbes for a wide variety of applications. He leads initiatives involving lab automation, high-throughput screening, data management, and the integration of AI/ML to enable biomanufacturing research.

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 JBEI. 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 researchers wearing white lab coats and safety goggles working with large machinery in the Lab.

The Advanced Biofuels and Bioproducts Process Development Unit, or ABPDU, helps biomanufacturing companies scale up innovative biotechnologies and transition them to the marketplace. To date, ABPDU has collaborated with over 90 industry partners; many have set up their own labs or pilot plants, secured additional funding, and launched their own products as a direct result of working with ABPDU.

Deepti Tanjore, biomanufacturing expert and Director of the Advanced Biofuels and Bioproducts Process Development Unit (ABPDU), shares how scale-up technologies developed at Berkeley Lab are enabling breakthroughs in commercialization for products built from biology. With state-of-the-art equipment and expertise, her team is partnering with industry to move outputs from the lab to the marketplace. Explore how fundamental science is shaping the future of everyday items we all rely on, from food to plastics – and how artificial intelligence and data will power the technologies of tomorrow in biomanufacturing.

In this 9-minute audio interview, Deepti Tanjore, director of the ABPDU, discusses the resources that the facility and its staff offer to help bring bio-based products to market and train the next generation of scientists.