News

TU Delft Pioneering Tech, a platform for decision-makers in government and business, recently highlighted synthetic cell research. Entitled ‘The factory of the future is a synthetic cell’, the cover article in the latest issue of Pioneering Tech magazine shares the views of researchers Marileen Dogterom and Tobias Erb and entrepreneur Harmen van Rossum on how this technology can contribute to sustainability, innovation and collaboration in Europe. The English version is now available online.

The main themes covered in the article:

• The potential benefits of synthetic cells: a deeper understanding of life, the use of synthetic cells as factories to produce many products (such as proteins) efficiently and sustainably, or to reduce CO2 emissions, and the development of new methods, techniques and tools along the way that can be reused by companies.
  “The ultimate goal is not the only important aspect in this type of research, the way to get there is as well” – Harmen van Rossum 

• Research objectives and recent progress of the two interviewed researchers and their collaborators.
  “We are trying to reinvent carbon fixation. Nature invented it once and we think it can be better, faster” – Tobias Erb

• The question of patents and technology ownership.
  “I want to make sure that synthetic cells help us all, through food production or waste treatment, and not just make certain shareholders rich” – Marileen Dogterom

• The ingredients needed for this technological revolution to take place in Europe.
  “The EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, called Horizon Europe, will expire in 2027. The new programme, hopefully with many funding opportunities for collaborative programmes and research on synthetic cells, will be announced next year.” – Marileen Dogterom

Want to know how technologies developed from synthetic cell research can become a European success story? Read the online article here