FabricNano is one of just a handful of companies working to commercialize a technology that sidesteps many of these pitfalls, known as “cell-free biomanufacturing.” Other companies also working in the area include San Diego startup Debut Biotech, which has a partnership with Dutch materials company DSM Daicel Arbor Biosciences in Ann Arbor, Mich., which is mostly focused on uses of the technology in life science and French biotech company Synthelis. Biomanufacturing also doesn’t work for certain chemicals because the chain reactions needed to create them produce toxins that kill the cells before the process can be completed. Think pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, carpeting, and molded parts in automobiles. This tends to make biomanufacturing expensive compared with other chemical processes, so it is most often used for specialty chemicals and materials. For many chemical processes, cells are also relatively inefficient, partly because the cells need to consume energy to live. Evenly distributing food for the cells can be a problem. The amount of chemical produced, known as the yield, can be inconsistent, especially because the cells at the bottom of the vats often respond poorly to the pressure and heat created. But there are several potential problems: Growing single-cell organisms in large vats can be difficult. Traditional biomanufacturing uses microbes, such as yeast, that either naturally produce a chemical or, more recently, that have been genetically modified to do so. Harvesting the power of single-cell organisms is one of humankind’s oldest manufacturing techniques: Think of beer, wine, cheese, and bread. They are part of a $12.5 million investment round in FabricNano, led by London-based venture capital firm Atomico, announced today. Among those inspired by that vision are actress Emma Watson of Harry Potter fame, Twitter cofounder Biz Stone, and Alexander Moscho, the former chief executive of Bayer. Its first product is a precursor for the creation of biodegradable polyester, which FabricNano’s founders think they can produce at a price that will make it competitive with the petroleum-based plastics that are used in everything from water bottles to fast-food trays. London-based startup FabricNano is targeting this scourge with a new kind of manufacturing that harnesses the chemical laboratories that exist inside the cells of living organisms, but it does so without the need to actually use living things. In the meantime, it poses a threat to wildlife and, through potentially carcinogenic microplastics that enter the food chain, us too. The rest winds up in landfills or in the ocean, where it can take up to five centuries to fully decompose. Researchers estimate that since 1950, more than 8.3 billion metric tons of the stuff has been produced, more than one ton for every person currently on the planet. Plastic: Next to the burning of fossil fuels, it represents one of the greatest environmental threats facing the planet.
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