Imperial Global USA and the UK Science & Technology Network in the US co-host reception to explore transatlantic partnerships in engineering biology.
On the eve of the world's biggest synthetic biology conference, SynBiobeta, Imperial and the UK Science & Technology Network at the British Consulate-General in San Francisco came together to host the UK Synbio Reception.
Attended by over 100 guests, the event explored engineering biology moonshots of the 21st century and the ever-growing importance of UK-US partnerships to support and boost these.
"Engineering biology has the potential to tackle critical global challenges. Imperial's engineering biology initiatives maximise the science's potential to transform our lives and protect our planet." Professor Mary Ryan Vice Provost for Research and Enterprise and Imperial Global USA Academic Theme Lead for Advanced Materials and Cleantech
Imperial's Vice Provost for Research and Enterprise Prof Mary Ryan, chaired a dynamic panel discussion with high profile participants including Lord David Willets and experts from Stanford University, ARIA and the Engineering Biology Research Consortium in the US representing a wealth of scientific and policy experience from both sides of the Atlantic.
Professor Mary Ryan explains how engineering biology is transforming the world around us and why it is becoming one of the word's biggest economic growth sectors: "Engineering biology has the potential to tackle critical global challenges in many different ways.
"In health, it can be applied to advance disease treatment and prevention, and is pioneering drug discovery. Across other sectors it is fostering sustainable industrial processes through innovative materials, boosting energy production, and revolutionising agriculture and food systems.
"I'm proud that Imperial is home to many cutting-edge engineering biology initiatives that maximise the science's potential to transform our lives and protect our planet. Joining forces with US partners will deepen this impact even further."
UK SynBio Reception
Here, Imperial synthetic biology spinout Solena's Gabriele Verikaite who attended the reception gives her take on the key takeaways from the discussion.
"Today's event brought together a powerful mix of voices across science, policy, and innovation to ask vital questions, particularly around the challenges and opportunities around scaling.
Lord David Willetts, Chair of the UK's Regulatory Innovation Office and former UK Minister for Universities and Science, reflected on the need for reliable metrics and standardisation to better track progress and regulation in synthetic biology. He highlighted how language can hold back engineering biology, and while the artisanal spirit in the field is valuable, there's also much to learn from physics, where structured systems accelerated innovation.
Dr India Hook-Barnard, PhD Executive Director of the US based Engineering Biology Research Consortium emphasised the need for clarity and confidence across the regulatory, innovation, and investment communities. If we want meaningful progress, all parties need to be aligned around a unified pathway forward.
Dr Drew Endy from Stanford University's Hoover Institution Science and Senior Fellow and Martin Family Fellow in Undergraduate Education for Bioengineering spoke passionately about the importance of community and continuity. Students, he said, "arrive from the future" bringing bold visions of the world they want to live in. He acknowledged that the UK has made commendable investments in engineering biology, while in the US, there is still has some work to do to achieve sustained government funding.
Jacques Carolan, Programme Director at the UK's ARIA R&D funding agency, pointed out that real success comes not just from funding projects for the sake of research, but from supporting those with true potential to scale and create value beyond the lab.
Prof Mary Ryan brought it all together with thoughtful, dynamic moderation.
It was a brilliant event, thank you for having us! Looking forward to what comes next for Imperial and the UK's engineering biology community."
Earlier in the day, Imperial spinout Solena Materials Limited used the SynBioBeta conference to announce a $6.7million seed funding round. Solena is a prime example of how combining synthetic biology and AI can result in extraordinary technology.
Imperial's collaborations with the UK Science and Innovation Network in the US (SIN US)
SIN US represents the UK government across all US states and serves to develop science and innovation opportunities for the benefit of the UK. The team of 13 officers is led from the British Embassy in Washington DC.
As the only UK university to have a permanent office on US soil in the form of our Imperial Global USA hub in San Francisco, Imperial is at the forefront of the UK's government's drive to forge new research and innovation partnerships across the US for shared scientific advancement and economic benefit.
From 2024 to 2025, SIN US is focussing on four overarching themes - emerging technologies, energy security and climate, space science, and one health and biosecurity.
Each of these themes is mirrored by the aims of Imperial Global USA and we have appointed an Academic Theme Lead for each area to act as a bridge between our research community and our US university counterparts, entrepreneurs, industry leaders and alumni.
"Imperial Global USA will accelerate our synthetic biology research, bringing us closer to developing innovative, self-correcting organisms that can tackle critical global challenges." Professor Karen Polizzi Imperial Global Academic Theme Lead for Engineering Biology
Professor Karen Polizzi Co-Director of the Imperial College Centre for Synthetic Biology, represents Engineering Biology for Health and Environment. She said: "Imperial Global USA will accelerate our synthetic biology research, bringing us closer to developing innovative, self-correcting organisms that can tackle critical global challenges in sustainability and health through biomanufacturing.
She continued "By fostering partnerships across the Atlantic, we aim to push the boundaries of what's possible in biosensing and cellular engineering, ultimately enhancing our ability to develop solutions with real-world impact."
UK and Imperial lead the way in engineering biology
The UK is a global leader in engineering biology research, second only to the US in research investment and excellence and ranked fourth by number of modern industrial biotechnology companies, behind China, the US and Canada. The global synthetic biology market size was estimated at USD 13.4 billion in 2022 and is expected to hit around USD 116.04 billion by 2032.
Beyond economic impact, engineering biology has the potential to improve lives and protect the plant, and Imperial has many cutting edge initiatives to maximise its potential.
The Bezos Centre for Sustainable Protein, established last year with a $30 million investment from the Bezos Earth Fund, addresses global food security challenges through the development of alternative protein sources.
SynbiCITE is the UK's national Innovation and Knowledge Centre (IKC) for synthetic biology, based at Imperial. It aims to accelerate the commercialisation of synthetic biology research and engineering biology applications, collaborating with academic institutions, startups, and multinational companies to bridge the gap between scientific research and its commercial exploitation. It has collaborated with 80 UK-based companies since 2013, significantly boosting their growth and investment, and in 2022, SynbiCITE launched SynBioVen (SBV), a £20 million venture fund aimed at supporting early-stage UK companies in synthetic biology.
Imperial's White City Deep Tech Campus houses the Centre of Excellence in Synthetic Biology (IC-CSynB), which provides leadership and vision for synthetic biology and supports 60 PhD students via the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in BioDesign Engineering, in collaboration with UCL and the University of Manchester.
SynBioBeta 2025
SynBioBeta is an annual global synthetic biology conference that brings together the world's top innovators, thought leaders, entrepreneurs, and investors who are using synthetic biology to build a better world.
It covers the application and impact of synbio across all industries from healthcare and agriculture to chemicals, materials, consumer goods, and biomanufacturing and this year's focus is on the convergence of synthetic biology and AI.
