BIO-ERA Announces New Multi-Client Study on the Economic Impacts of Advancing Biotechnologies
New Research Effort to Examine the Potential Economic Impacts of Rapid Advances in our Ability to Manipulate Genetic Code
Cambridge, MA (PRWEB) February 22, 2005 -- Bio Economic Research Associates,
or bio-era™ (www.bio-era.net), a leading independent research and advisory
firm providing analysis on the future of the global bio economy, today announced
the launch of a multi-client study entitled “Genome Synthesis and Design
Futures: How Will Biotechnology Advances Affect Our Future Economy?”
The
multi-client effort will concentrate on the economic implications of rapid
advances in fundamental enabling biotechnologies, including genetic sequencing
and synthesis technologies, new approaches to manipulating and designing
genomes, such as the emerging field of “Synthetic” biology, and new paradigms
for managing and licensing intellectual property in biotechnology, such as
PIPRA, “open-source” and “community-source” source approaches. The goal of the
study is to:
- increase understanding of the major economic impacts of
advances in enabling biotechnologies
- identify in advance key implications
for business and industry, financial markets, governments, and investors
-
generate new insights, recommendations, and public/private alliances to
capitalize on these advances within the global business community
Under
the leadership and direction of bio-era Managing Director, James Newcomb, the
study will deliver highly plausible scenarios for the evolution of advances in
enabling biotechnologies, how selected industries and economies may be impacted,
and the implications for the future.
Who should
participate?
Participants are expected to include major companies, investors,
business planning analysts, and government officials with significant interest
in rapidly evolving biotechnologies.
The Rapid Advance of Enabling
Biotechnologies: Background
There is an explosion of new life-sciences
applications underway, with potentially dramatic economic and societal benefits,
implications and consequences. It is now plausible that within the next ten to
twenty years, an individual may be able to specify the genome of a complex
organism, communicate the genome sequence to a distant laboratory via the
internet, and have the coded organism created and delivered in the mail within a
matter of days or weeks. Mail order genes are already a reality in the
marketplace, and mail order genomes may not be far behind.
This vision of
an explosion of “mail order” life forms critically depends on continued rapid
advances in a host of enabling biotechnologies. The good news is that by some
measures, technology development in these areas has been proceeding at
exponential rates.
Moreover, while genome engineering will build upon the
well-established knowledge and production base of the chemical industry, it
could eventually subsume that industry: biological "mass production" could be
fundamentally less expensive and more efficient than existing
practices.
Specific Technological Changes That Will Enable Large Scale
Synthesis
While genetic modification has thus far utilized relatively
imprecise means for inserting genes into both prokaryotes and eukaryotes,
emerging technologies will enable rapid, precise, and comprehensive genome
engineering. Techniques for synthesizing genomes will range from assembly of
chemically synthesized oligos into larger pieces (see Venter et al, PNAS,
December 23, 2003, 100(26)) and assembly of plasmids and artificial chromosomes
from preexisting characterized parts (see http://biobricks.mit.edu/). Craig Venter has demonstrated
assembly of functional viral genomes (~5kB) from small, commercially synthesized
oligos, in a method that can easily be extended for much longer sequences. The
Synthetic Biology group at MIT has also been busy compiling a set of
well-characterized, interoperable genetic elements with “snap together” ends.
The majority of these parts are drawn from well-studied organisms, that is, they
have been “captured from the wild” and tamed in the lab. Plans are afoot to
supplement the natural parts with a variety of synthetic parts produced by
academic labs around the country. These parts are all described in an online
data book, are composable using open source design tools, and will be
distributed via an open source license. At the Center for the Application of
Molecular Biology to International Agriculture (CAMBIA) in Canberra (http://www.cambia.org), Richard
Jefferson is planning to distribute a toolkit of genes for manipulating many
kinds of plants. As with the Biobricks project, these genes can be used to
assemble larger functional circuits. But the most important part of CAMBIA’s
contribution is that it will be outside the IP restrictions inherent in
technology developed by Monsanto and other agricultural biotech companies.
CAMBIA’s mission states: “We envision a situation in which the broadest
community of researchers and farmers are empowered with dramatic new
technologies to become innovators in developing their own solutions to the
challenges they face - solutions for which they feel ownership.” This opens the
door to widespread genetic modification of plants to produce a wide variety of
compounds, as determined by the interest of empowered individuals and small
groups.
Whether from the ground up or using snap together parts, whether
proprietary or open source, genome synthesis will completely alter the economics
of innovative biological design. Labor costs are decreasing rapidly while
productivity is rising. New technologies will enable broad-based genetic design,
and eventually, the fabrication of materials and structures locally at low cost.
This could be the beginning of what has been called “distributed biological
manufacturing" – a new paradigm of materials production which should eventually
be both less expensive and more efficient than traditional manufacturing
processes in many industries.
Learning What to Watch
This project
is designed to help stakeholders address the following questions:
- What
are the key enabling biotechnologies, and how rapidly are they advancing?
-
How might on-going advances in these technologies affect existing industries and
business practices?
- What should the business community be watching with
respect to the emergence of disruptive new biological technologies, like
“distributed biological manufacturing”? When will they become
“significant”?
- How are advances in enabling biotechnologies likely to be
treated by various stakeholders, including existing IP holders, government
regulators, and investors?
By using scenarios to describe the possible
trajectories for the advance of key enabling technologies, this multi-client
study project is intended to help better prepare participating organizations in
developing their own planning, investment, and response strategies.
To
enroll in the study, or for more information, please visit http://www.bio-era.net/research/add_research_17.html or
contact Stephen C. Aldrich 617 876-2400.
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/3/prweb207835.htm