Rapid action needed to stop the UK falling behind in synthetic biology

The UK needs to take ‘urgent’ action to embrace engineering biology or risk losing out on the economic and industrial benefits, a report from the House of Lords science and technology committee has warned.

Engineering biology involves the design and construction of new or modified organisms or molecules, based on those found in nature. Current applications include converting waste into fuel using engineered bacteria, producing synthetic meat and recovering and recycling rare earth minerals.