Biotechnologie Kolloquium: Dr. Alvaro Banderas (INM Leibniz)

Gast: Dr. Alvaro Banderas (INM Leibniz)

Titel: Building a Materials-Oriented Biofoundry

Zusammenfassung:
Biofoundries have rapidly become established infrastructure in synthetic biology, yet their diversity—spanning industrial giants, well-funded academic centers, and lean DIY operations—reveals that no single model fits all contexts. As the field matures, specialization and interoperability are not merely an option, but a necessity. Here I present a vision for the Accelerated Research Foundry (ARF) at INM – Leibniz Institute for New Materials, an academic Biofoundry at the intersection of synthetic biology and materials science. The ARF merges concepts from Material Acceleration Platforms (MAPs) with Biofoundry to address engineered living and biohybrid materials, synthetic cells, and molecularly programmed matter and sensors. I’ll explain how INM's expertise merges with my background in microbiology, evolution, optogenetics, and synthetic biology to build new incipient projects that illustrate the breadth of this approach: i. reaching liquid-class agnosticism: handling the unconventional, viscous, or heterogeneous materials that define our target applications; ii. the creation of superior optogenetic-controlled and voltage-indicator proteins; iii. building platforms for molecular communication and computation and iv. contributing to the creation of an ontology for living materials. The ARF is set to operate as a lean, teaching-integrated structure that prioritizes growth of scientific agility over scale. Finally, I will discuss how it fits into the broader automation landscape and how exchange with established foundries is central to building these capabilities efficiently.