Share
Preview
A brighter future… built with biology
Hi ,
Editor’s Note: Leading the Future Is Never Easy
Last night, Zymergen, one of the first biology unicorns, announced that they would not generate revenues through 2022 and that their CEO was stepping down. Zymergen’s stock promptly fell 70% in after-hours trading. But I am not writing this to single out Zymergen. There are larger questions that I think we need to ask ourselves as an industry:

We are in a race to save the planet. After a decade of toiling out of the public eye, we have emerged onto the world stage. But have we gotten ahead of ourselves in the process?

Our entire industry is built partnering with nature in our effort to make a better world. But catching up to her genius when she has a 4 billion-year head start is going to take a significant time and money. But it’s a partnership that we absolutely must make for the sake of future generations.

It’s a challenge to live in a quarterly system, where we need to show profits every three months rather than thinking about this as generational change. Today may feel like a hard day, it certainly feels that way to me. But, I have hope for the future because this community is made of people working their hardest day in and day out to make our world a better place.  

We all know we have made missteps in the past. Biofuels, it turns out, were not the planet-savior we thought they were. I encourage this community to take this day as an opportunity to embrace the long game. There is no doubt in my mind that changing the world with biology is our best path forward.

This is a call for transparency, accountability, and a recognition that we shouldn't hype what we want to have until we have achieved it. At the end of the day, the people who need our help the most are the average citizen. We cannot serve them and our planet if we tell the world we can run before we can walk. Because our world needs us to run.

-Fiona Mischel

SynBioBeta 2021 Will Be a Field Trip to the Future!
SynBioBeta 2021: Remember when...
We want to take you on a Field Trip to the Future where we see hope and a healthier, more sustainable world! Join us for a brighter tomorrow in October—see the full event here!
Listen: Built with Biology Spaces

Join us today for the Built with Biology show on Twitter Spaces at 8 am PT! Spaces is an audio-only platform—all you need is a Twitter handle and the Twitter app on your phone.
  • Today’s show welcomes Solugen co-founders Gaurab Chakrabarti, CEO, and Sean Hunt, CTO!


Missed an episode? Click here to listen to all our episodes.

Spotlight: How Spiber is Spinning Proteins Into Spider Silk

Love 'em or hate 'em, spiders are amazing creatures. The silks they spin are some of the most diverse materials found in nature. But spider silk is very difficult to obtain. Spiber is a bio-materials company brewing spider silk proteins through fermentation. Listen to Fiona and Nikita riff on fashion, microbes, and even a new appreciation of spiders!
John Cumbers for Forbes
This Climate Bill Would Actually Send Checks To Americans. Can It Help Save The Planet And Grow Our Economy?
Carbon taxes are considered a highly-effective economy-wide policy tool for greenhouse gas emission reductions. The theory is simple: Emissions are causing great damage, and those who are responsible should pay for the consequences. A new bill, EICDA, aims to reduce companies’ carbon footprints and redistribute the revenue generated every-day citizens and vulnerable communities.

This is a call to action: SynBioBeta stands behind this bill and the good it can do for our communities and our planet. Join us and call your US senators and congressional representatives today! Click here for the info you need to act.

You can also get your company to send a simple message to every trade association it belongs to with the following goal:
  • Advocate for a price on carbon, like the EICDA, to be in the Reconciliation package
  • Send a message as a trade association to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce with the same message

We hope you join us in this call to action to use all the tools available to us to address our climate crisis!

Bota Bio Raises $100 Million As Biology Disrupts The Chemical Industry With Sustainable Manufacturing
The company plans to expand global operations and build a lab-to-pilot scale platform to facilitate the rapid scale-up and deployment of its product pipeline in consumer goods, food, nutrition, and pharmaceutical products.


Science News

Funding News
Have a great week,
Regards,

Fiona Mischel
Editor in Chief, SynBioBeta
Latest news
Who's hiring?

Email Marketing by ActiveCampaign