The Climate Biotech Podcast

Professor Pam Silver from Harvard Medical School joins us as a founding figure and legend in synthetic biology whose scientific path led from pioneering work on nuclear localization to co-developing the revolutionary "bionic leaf"—a system that combines artificial catalysts with bacteria to convert sunlight and CO2 into fuels and compounds at efficiencies far exceeding natural photosynthesis.

Silver's perspective on synthetic biology's evolution from theoretical explorations to real-world applications is illuminating. "The only way we're going to solve the problems of the world with food and impending climate change is through engineering biology," she asserts. "Nature has solved many problems already, and the more we learn how nature solves them, we can implement that."

She doesn't shy away from controversial topics, proudly declaring herself "a full-on GMO believer" while acknowledging the ethical complexities of engineered deployments. Her approach exemplifies the powerful interface between human engineering and biological processes that characterizes her climate solutions work.

For aspiring biotechnologists, Silver offers wisdom distilled from decades at the forefront: "Be bold, take risks, but remain humble and respect nature." This balance of audacity and reverence captures her approach to reimagining biology as an engineering medium—one that might hold solutions to our most pressing planetary challenges.

Whether you're a scientist, entrepreneur, or simply curious about how biology might shape our climate future, this episode offers insights from someone who has helped define synthetic biology from its earliest days.

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Sonja Salmon takes us on a fascinating journey through her 20-year quest to harness the power of enzymes and textiles to fight climate change. Her background in textile chemistry led to a deep understanding of natural polymers like cellulose and chitosan, which eventually connected to her fascination with enzymes during a 22-year career at the world's largest industrial enzyme company.

The heart of Salmon's innovation lies in immobilizing carbonic anhydrase. This remarkably fast enzyme converts carbon dioxide to bicarbonate, in this case onto textile surfaces. By coating cotton with chitosan and using reactive dye chemistry as a cross-linking agent, she creates a durable attachment that maintains the enzyme's activity while providing an ideal gas-liquid contact surface. This ingenious approach transforms ordinary fabric into a carbon capture device with minimal energy requirements.

What makes this approach so promising is its accessibility and scalability. The global textile manufacturing infrastructure already exists, and the materials involved are largely bio-derived and familiar to the industry. 

Beyond carbon capture, Salmon's collaborative work extends to nitrogenase, an enzyme that could potentially replace the carbon-intensive Haber-Bosch process responsible for 2% of global CO2 emissions. Her vision of conductive textiles delivering electrons to immobilized nitrogenase points to a future where our clothes might literally help save the planet.

Join us to discover how this innovative scientist is weaving together biology and fabric into powerful climate solutions, and why she believes so strongly that we can—and must—take action on climate change. Check out Textile Biocatalysis Research online or biocatncsuedu to learn more about Professor Salmon's groundbreaking work.

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When Loren Looger walks into a room, he doesn't want recognition, he wants to make things that work. The creator of revolutionary, open-source tools that transformed how we visualize brain activity is increasingly turning his protein engineering expertise to formidable challenges in climate, including methane degradation. .

Methane sits at the heart of our climate crisis as a greenhouse gas 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Yet nature has evolved only a few enzyme scapable of breaking it down. Methane monooxygenase (MMO) is on eof these remarkable proteins existing in methanotrophs, specialized microbes that have evolved unique cellular structures specifically to process methane. Despite its discovery decades ago, MMO remains stubbornly mysterious, with scientists still uncertain about its basic biochemical requirements.

In this fascinating conversation, Looger describes how he's applying the same methodical approach that revolutionized neuroscience to this critical climate challenge. His project aims to create fluorescent biosensors that can reveal MMO's secrets—how it interacts with membranes, what metals it requires, and why it struggles to function when expressed in other organisms. The ultimate vision? Engineering plants that can express functional MMO, potentially transforming forests into methane-capturing systems.

What makes this story particularly compelling is Looger's journey—from a math-obsessed kid in Alabama who worked at NASA after school, to a biochemist who stumbled into neuroscience, to a climate biotechnologist driven by urgency. "We've got one last chance to save a planet where we can study neuroscience," he notes, explaining his pivot to climate work.

Throughout his career, Looger has championed a culture of scientific openness, freely sharing tools before publication—a philosophy he believes is essential for climate innovation. His approach reminds us that sometimes the most meaningful scientific contributions come not from flashy breakthroughs but from methodical improvements that make complex systems accessible to all researchers.

Ready to bring your expertise to climate challenges? Email Lauren directly—he welcomes collaborations from scientists willing to apply their skills to our planet's most pressing problems.

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What happens when a structural biochemist turns his attention to mountains of rock? Dr. Sasha Milshteyn takes us on a remarkable journey from studying tiny molecular movements in proteins to revolutionizing how we extract copper from massive mine heaps.

The mining industry faces a critical challenge - we've depleted most easily-processed oxide copper ores, leaving behind harder-to-extract sulfides that typically yield just 30-50% recovery using conventional methods. This creates a significant bottleneck for the clean energy transition, which demands unprecedented quantities of copper. For decades, miners have attempted to improve extraction by growing iron and sulfur oxidizing microbes in labs and inoculating heaps with them, but these introduced microbes rarely thrive against established native communities.

Sasha's breakthrough insight came from recognizing that every ore heap already contains a complex ecosystem of extremophiles - acid-loving microbes that derive energy from "eating rock." Rather than fighting against these established communities by introducing foreign organisms, Transition Biomining analyzes the native microbiome and identifies what's limiting its performance. They then develop custom "prebiotics" that enhance the function of these specialized microbes, potentially boosting recovery by 25-30 percentage points.

What makes this approach particularly powerful is how it integrates with existing mining infrastructure. A medium-sized mine moves approximately 100,000 tons of rock daily - the equivalent of 1,000 train cars. By working within established processes rather than requiring entirely new systems, Transition offers a practical path forward for an industry traditionally, and understandably, resistant to change. 

Beyond mining, Sasha shares valuable insights for all scientists and entrepreneurs: understand what happens at scale before designing bench experiments, question assumptions in established protocols, and recognize how little we truly know about biological systems. 

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amilshteyn/

Website: transition.bio

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Mining has essentially been the same for 5,000 years, just now with bigger shovels. Imagine if we could drastically increase mining efficiency and output for both the environment and national security. That's exactly what Dr. Esteban Gazel, a Costa Rican-born geochemist, and Dr. Buz Barstow, a physicist-turned-synthetic biologist, are working on at Cornell University.

When these brilliant minds connected over rare earth elements and carbon storage, they realized that existing microorganisms could be engineered and optimized to transform how we extract critical minerals from the earth. Their groundbreaking research has already improved the microbe Gluconobacter's ability to extract rare earth elements by an astounding 1,200% compared to its natural capabilities. This biological approach operates at room temperature with minimal environmental impact, potentially transforming mining from a destructive industry into a sustainable process.

The stakes couldn't be higher. Each wind turbine requires five tons of copper and one ton of rare earth elements, materials that currently demand processing hundreds or thousands of tons of rock through energy-intensive methods. As we transition to clean energy, these demands will only increase, creating an urgent need for sustainable extraction approaches.

Their Microbe Mineral Atlas project aims to catalog how microorganisms interact with minerals, identifying biological systems that can dissolve rocks, generate acids, create chelators, and precipitate specific elements. Beyond metal extraction, they're exploring how microbes might accelerate natural carbon sequestration processes in minerals like olivine.

What makes their work so powerful is their complementary expertise – Gozel's deep knowledge of mineral thermodynamics paired with Barstow's synthetic biology innovations. Their vision goes beyond incremental improvements; they're reimagining mining entirely with processes that can efficiently extract multiple elements simultaneously, utilize low-grade deposits, and operate with minimal environmental impact.

Join us for this fascinating conversation about how the tiniest organisms on Earth might help solve some of our biggest resource challenges. Subscribe to the Climate Biotech Podcast to explore more groundbreaking solutions at the intersection of climate and biology.

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What if we could reinvent photosynthesis itself? GigaCrop founder and CEO Chris Eiben has a mission to dramatically increase crop yields by redesigning one of biology's most fundamental processes.

With half of Earth's habitable land already dedicated to agriculture and growing demands for food, fiber, and materials, we face a critical choice: convert more natural landscapes to farmland or make existing farmland drastically more productive.

The problem lies with Rubisco, the enzyme at the heart of photosynthesis. Despite millions of years of evolution, Rubisco remains frustratingly inefficient - it's slow and frequently mistakes oxygen for carbon dioxide, forcing plants to waste energy correcting these errors. Rather than trying to improve Rubisco itself (a challenge that has consumed billions in research funding), GigaCrop is building entirely new biochemical pathways using faster enzymes that don't make these mistakes.

The potential impact is staggering. In full sunlight, plants receive more photons than they can use - the biochemical process of carbon conversion becomes the bottleneck. By addressing this fundamental limitation, GigaCrop could enable crops to produce significantly more yield on the same land, transforming agriculture while preserving natural ecosystems.

Connect with Chris if you're excited about plant engineering or bringing game-changing technologies to market.

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-eiben/

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The solution to plastic waste looks different depending on where you stand in the world. While Northern Hemisphere biotech approaches to plastic recycling focus on high-temperature enzymes designed to regenerate plastic monomers (which works when you produce lots of plastic), Cesar's lab has engineered a completely different solution. Starting with microorganisms from Antarctica, his team uses AI and deep learning to design enzymes that work efficiently at low temperatures - not to recycle plastic into more plastic, but to transform it into valuable fragrances and other products that actually have market demand in Latin America.

The conversation weaves between technical enzyme design challenges and broader themes of democratizing biotechnology across the Global South. During the COVID pandemic, when reagent shortages hit Latin America particularly hard, Cesar co-founded initiatives to produce essential molecular biology enzymes locally. This experience crystallized his vision of combining open science with practical innovation - making biotechnology tools accessible while simultaneously developing commercial applications.

Follow Cesar's work at the Institute for Biological and Medical Engineering ath the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. 

@cxarramirez

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What if we could secure critical supply chains through bioengineering? What if the vaccines protecting millions worldwide didn't require harvesting 10,000 trees annually from Chilean mountains? Maria Astolfi is tackling this exact challenge through groundbreaking work with P450 enzymes.

Growing up surrounded by biodiversity shaped Maria's unique perspective on biotechnology. After co-founding the Amazon's first synthetic biology lab and working at Ginkgo Bioworks, she now conducts research in UC Berkeley's Jay Keasling laboratory. Her mission? Solving one of biomanufacturing's most persistent bottlenecks – engineering the notoriously difficult P450 enzymes that are crucial for producing complex natural products.

The stakes couldn't be higher. QS-21, a critical vaccine adjuvant, costs up to $200,000 per gram due to its complex extraction from Chilean trees. Beyond the environmental damage, this extractive approach creates volatile supply chains for essential medicines. Maria's innovative combination of machine learning and high-throughput robotics has already yielded a remarkable 3x improvement in enzyme activity – just the beginning of what's possible.

What makes Maria's vision truly transformative is how it reconnects biotechnology with biodiversity. By focusing first on this high-value target, she's creating infrastructure that could eventually transform production of countless natural products.

Listen to this episode for a glimpse into a future where advanced biotechnology and biodiversity protection go hand in hand.

00:00 Introduction to Vaccine Adjuvants and Climate Biotech
00:19 Welcome to the Climate Biotech Podcast
00:46 Meet Maria: From the Amazon to Biotech
01:50 Maria's Early Inspirations and Career Path
04:24 The Journey to Ginkgo Bioworks
10:49 Challenges and Innovations in Biomanufacturing
13:16 The Importance of Cytochrome P450 Enzymes
16:38 Scaling Sustainable Biomanufacturing
21:21 The Broader Impact of Biomanufacturing
25:25 Future Visions and Final Thoughts
33:33 Rapid Fire Questions and Closing Remarks

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The global food system has a phosphorus problem that few people talk about. Unlike nitrogen, which cycles naturally through our atmosphere, phosphorus is mined from finite deposits and has no natural cycle. A massive 100-kilometer conveyor belt—visible from space—transports phosphate-rich rock from the Sahara Desert to ships waiting to distribute this critical resource worldwide. Any disruption to this supply chain would threaten global agriculture, yet when phosphorus runs off fields, it creates devastating algal blooms in lakes and rivers.

Ben Scott, Engineering Biology Platform Lead at the Global Institute for Food Security, is developing an elegant solution using protein engineering. His team is redesigning enzymes called phytases to unlock organic phosphorus already present in soil but unavailable to plants. Up to 80% of organic phosphorus exists as phytate molecules bound to metal ions, making them inaccessible. While natural phytases can break these bonds, they've evolved to work in acidic, warm environments—not the neutral, cooler conditions of agricultural soils.

Scott is combining protein engineering with automation and AI to create enzymes specifically tailored for field applications. His team uses high-throughput robotics to test thousands of enzyme variants across different conditions, generating quality data that feeds AI models to design better proteins. Through this, accomplishing twin goals — reducing our dependence on mined phosphate while preventing the environmental damage caused by phosphorus runoff — could be within reach.

The work exemplifies how synthetic biology can address climate and food security challenges through creative biological design. By moving beyond the limitations of natural enzymes to create proteins specifically tailored to agricultural needs, Scott's research points toward a more sustainable future for phosphorus management in global agriculture. 

Ben Scott on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjaminmscott/

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Imagine proteins engineered to seek out and bind toxic heavy metals, cleaning up contaminated sites and potentially treating metal poisoning in humans. 

In this episode, Duke University professor and entrepreneur Pranam Chatterjee shares how his has developed two impressive AI tools transforming this field: MetaLATTE, which predicts whether proteins will bind specific metals, and the upcoming MetaLORIAN, which generates custom peptides designed to target particular metals like cadmium, lead, or copper. These technologies represent a significant advancement over traditional remediation approaches, potentially offering more precise, selective methods for environmental cleanup.

What makes this work particularly exciting is its dual potential—the same protein engineering techniques could address environmental pollution while simultaneously developing therapies for human metal poisoning. From brownfield remediation to industrial metal recycling and medical applications, these programmable proteins could offer unprecedented flexibility in how we tackle toxic metal contamination.

Visit chatterjeelab.com or huggingface.com/chatterjeelab to explore these tools yourself and see firsthand how AI-driven protein engineering is revolutionizing environmental remediation.

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