We are proud to share that our latest collaborative research, “Engineering biology applications for environmental solutions: potential and challenges”, has been published in Nature Communications.
This forward-looking paper explores how engineering biology can be used to tackle major environmental challenges—from bioremediation and pollution monitoring to waste valorisation and carbon sequestration. A significant highlight of the work is its focus on biosafety and traceability, especially the role of genomic barcoding in enabling responsible environmental deployment of engineered microbes.
Barcoding offers a method to uniquely tag engineered strains, providing a digital link between biological assets and their metadata (“digital twins”). This approach enhances transparency, allows for traceability in open environments, and supports regulatory and ethical oversight.
In the face of growing environmental urgency, this research presents not only the technological potential of synthetic biology but also actionable governance strategies for its safe and effective use
📄 Read the full article here: Nature Communications
