Engineering biology applications for environmental solutions: potential and challenges

Lea-Smith, David J., Hassard, Francis, Coulon, Frederic, Partridge, Natalie, Horsfall, Louise, Parker, Kyle D. J., Smith, Robert D. J., McCarthy, Ronan R., McKew, Boyd, Gutierrez, Tony, Kumar, Vinod, Dotro, Gabriella, Yang, Zhugen, Curtis, Thomas P., Golyshin, Peter, Heaven, Sonia, Jefferson, Bruce, Jeffrey, Paul, Jones, Davey L., Pidou, Kristell Le Corre, Liu, Yongqiang, Lyu, Tao, Smith, Cindy, Yakunin, Alexander, Zhang, Yue and Krasnogor, Natalio (2025) Engineering biology applications for environmental solutions: potential and challenges. Nature Communications, 16, [3538]. (doi:10.1038/s41467-025-58492-0).

Abstract

Engineering biology applies synthetic biology to address global environmental challenges like bioremediation, biosequestration, pollutant monitoring, and resource recovery. This perspective outlines innovations in engineering biology, its integration with other technologies (e.g., nanotechnology, IoT, AI), and commercial ventures leveraging these advancements. We also discuss commercialisation and scaling challenges, biosafety and biosecurity considerations including biocontainment strategies, social and political dimensions, and governance issues that must be addressed for successful real-world implementation. Finally, we highlight future perspectives and propose strategies to overcome existing hurdles, aiming to accelerate the adoption of engineering biology for environmental solutions.

This record has no associated files available for download.

Contributors

Author: Ronan R. McCarthy

Author: Sonia Heaven

Author: Yongqiang Liu

Download statistics