Engineering biology

Engineering biology applies engineering principles such as design and computation to the science of synthetic biology. The goal of our research is to harness the power of living organisms for a variety of manufacturing applications, such as advanced therapeutics, sustainable fuels and novel food production systems.

Within CSIRO’s Food Innovation Centre, engineering biology is closely linked with precision fermentation which utilises genetically or metabolically engineered microbes to reimagine food manufacturing.  

How our engineering biology can help industry:

• customised protein and molecule product design 
• genetic and metabolic engineering of microbes to develop efficient precision fermentation production strains 
• high-throughput screening for effective production strain selection, for example with CSIRO BioFoundry 
• novel strain development utilising CSIRO’s own yeast and fungal collection 
• additive genetic engineering to enhance functionality of existing production strains 
• parallel strain engineering development in tandem with CSIRO Food Innovation’s precision fermentation capability from gene to plate – offering genetic engineering tailored to enhance the whole value chain
• we’re also developing microbial consortia that share the metabolic burden of industrial production and provide enhanced precision fermentation efficiency combined with superior sustainability.

We’ve worked with a number of companies ranging from large multi-nationals to start-ups to develop novel engineered proteins and effective precision fermentation production strains. For example, read more about our work with precision fermentation startup, Eden Brew.  

To discuss engineering biology innovations for your business, contact: