By Alec A.K. Nielsen Originally published at asimov.io, republished with permission If you’re reading this, you’re probably biological. As you sit quietly, trillions of cells in your body are performing a frenetic dance of biochemical computation that makes your existence possible. Consider this: You were once a single cell – a fertilized egg. This single cell […]
Think of it. There’s the brain — with its trillion synapses, sensing, diagnosing, prescribing, responding, targeting. What if a human cell could be programmed to detect a disease, manufacture a drug and deliver it? As in no doctor, no skyrocketing drug cost, no delay, no hassle, no kidding. It would revolutionize medicine. But also, agriculture […]
Asimov has spun out of MIT aimed at detecting and responding to customer needs in applying biocircuit design to real-world opportunities. “It is literally a programming language for bacteria,” says Christopher Voigt, an MIT professor of biological engineering. “You use a text-based language, just like you’re programming a computer. Then you take that text and […]
Glucan Biorenewables is producing furan derivatives from biomass. The furfural platform will be used to launch other value-added co-products: 5-hydroxyl-methyl furfural (HMF) and downstream derivatives The company’s TriVersa Process meets the need for a renewable, environmentally friendly process to deconstruct aggregated agricultural residues created from existing 1st generation industries, into high-end chemicals and advanced materials. […]
The Sustainable Bioeconomy for Arid Regions (SBAR) is a multi-level research project that will cultivate two desert-dwelling crops, guayule and guar, for a sustainable bioeconomy. Scale up to profitable production, however, requires feedstock improvements, expansion of cultivation, agronomic knowledge and practices, and economic crop residue utilization. Researchers from The University of Arizona (UA), Bridgestone Americas, Inc., […]
To date, North America is the most active of all regions in terms of deploying advanced technology — whether it is cellulosic ethanol, isobutanol for fuels and chemicals, or renewable chemical plants, you see the first and the most, here. There are three drivers for that: 1. Continued and robust technology development, from Silicon Valley […]
Sometimes, what an engine needs to roar to life is a spark. Or a SPARC, as in this case. As in the Southeastern Partnership for Advanced Renewables from Carinata (SPARC), a consortium consisting of the University of Florida (lead), the University of South Florida, the University of Georgia, Auburn University, and other institutions, government agencies, […]
By Ron Cascone, Principal, Nexant, Inc. Special to The Digest Emissions of carbon dioxide by industrial and chemical processes have come under increasing pressure in recent years with regulatory and consumer scrutiny. A number of industrial and commercial consortia and individual companies are committing to major reductions in their carbon footprints. Although technical solutions for […]
Algae chocolate, algae ink, algae protein powder, algae as a solar technology and algae as a diversification strategy for tourist economies? Algae investors and project developers may be the most inventive group of people in the world when it comes to finding new market niches for the world’s oldest living oil source, friend of the […]
The 2014 Farm Bill provides for support of Advanced Biofuels, Renewable Chemicals, and Biobased Product Manufacturing by providing loan guarantees for up to $250 million. USDA has funding available and is actively looking for new applications. These illuminating slides on the USDA process come from Todd Hubbell, Chief, Technology Branch, USDA Rural Development as presented originally at ABLC […]
