The team at Synthetic Biotechnology are on the look-out for naturally arising organisms whose metabolic activities generate products with potential for human use: for instance, oleaginous (oil-producing) yeasts and algae. The researchers analyse and optimise these organisms in the lab, manipulating their metabolism and prompting them to produce materials that can be further processed into chemical building blocks. Industrial-scale production of these building blocks is the goal—and it’s hoped they will replace fossil fuels and other problematic resources such as palm oil.

The methodologies and processes at Synthetic Biotechnology are so complex that close collaboration between specialists from the fields of chemistry, biotechnology, bioinformatics, microbiology, genetics and pharmaceutics is indispensable. Currently, 25 such experts are working in the group at the Technical University of Munich (TUM). Headed by Thomas Brück, professor of industrial biocatalysis, the team at Synthetic Biotechnology is pressing forward in the new discipline—an undertaking partially funded by the Werner Siemens Foundation.

Why should so much energy be expended on creating products—for instance, oils—that occur naturally? To answer this question, it’s important to look at the larger picture. “The global population is expected to increase by 50% by the year 2050, and the demand for food and energy will rise accordingly,” says Thomas Brück, who holds the Werner Siemens Foundation Endowed Chair at TUM. “How are we going to meet this demand with existing resources and without dangerously exacerbating global warming?” Should the increased demand for food be met via additional fertilisation, increased amounts of nitric oxide would be released, further aggravating climate change. Should fossil fuels continue to supply the additional energy required—to heat homes, ensure mobility, produce goods—carbon dioxide emissions would spike dangerously. And should the demand for energy be increasingly met by biomass such as soy or sugar cane, these basic foodstuffs wouldn’t be available to feed the growing population. In short: a vicious circle.