It’s been a few months since we posted a blog, and we have a lot to talk about. While we haven’t been publicly shouting our work from the rooftops, we have been busy setting up the framework for the Bio-Conversion Databank Foundation (BioDF). And, we can’t wait any longer to tell you everything we have been up to.
While we have been focused on the current pandemic and economic crisis, the world has also been confronting increasing environmental burdens, such as climate change. These problems have not been put on hold during the pandemic, and it is increasingly necessary for people, businesses, and governments to change their current unsustainable approaches to consumption and use of resources and manufactured goods.
To make a significant difference globally, we must develop solutions that are scalable to treat billions of tonnes of greenhouse gas (GHG) each year, require little to no external conventional energy inputs, and are also very cost-effective. This is a large request, but it is important that sustainable solutions be found that are not simply pushing the problem down the road by creating other issues. This means we need to focus on the development of integrated systems that not only capture GHGs but also change them into desirable and useful end products.
This is why we started BioDF.
We are focused on identifying, cataloging, and developing a “biobank” of information on microbes: aggregating data, analyzing DNA sequences, understanding biological functionalities, documenting characteristics, and then making all this information widely available.
We will also actively engage in technology transfer and licensing of engineered pathways and knowledge for commercial development. These will be used by third parties – researchers, businesses – who will develop and ultimately deploy commercial bio-industrial systems.
Solutions that can turn GHGs and waste products into new, useful products are within the reach of current scientific capability. Pushing the limits of science to address GHG on such a macro-scale led us to look to biological systems that use biochemical and physical processes to convert GHG inputs (such as carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrogen oxide) into useful outputs of various kinds. Biological systems are self-replicating and, under proper circumstances, can demonstrate transformation and conversion at very high rates.
BioDF is here to make the scientific processes faster, easier, and more collaborative than ever before.
We’re going to share our progress, hard-earned lessons, and insights in future blogs. But we don’t want this interaction to be one-sided; we want to hear your take and learn how you’re tackling these complex issues. Follow us on our re-vamped LinkedIn page where we’ll be keeping the conversation going.