2016 Informex

Sessions Speakers Exhibitors Press Releases Floor Plan Buzz

Synthetic Biology: Ushering in a New Era of Chemical Engineering (Room Blue Theater)

03 Feb 16
2:00 PM - 2:30 PM

Tracks: Agro; Energy; Household Goods; Personal Care

Recently, chemical engineers have begun to take advantage of a promising new approach known as synthetic biology. This emerging method most often uses rational design to genetically modify an organism to produce bio-based components critical to building chemicals, offering the industry a tantalizing new path to chemical processing that reduces reliance on petroleum-based materials. This session will look at how improvements to gene synthesis technology are enabling more efficient, sustainable chemical engineering and the impact this exciting new field of research will have on the fine and specialty chemicals industry. For example, did you know that synthetic biology can be used to convert natural gas to chemicals? San Francisco-based Industrial Microbes will give you a first look at how they plan to produce environmentally-responsible chemicals and fuels using low-cost greenhouse gases as raw materials.