You probably know how synthetic biology applies to your work, but how would you define it? I describe synthetic biology as "the application of engineering principles to and reduction of biological systems to their fundamental parts for the purpose of creating artificially robust living systems for the creation of natural products or services". A bit long-winded perhaps, but I think it captures the fact that the field has applications in so many distinct industries. If you attended SynBioBeta London on April 3rd at Imperial College then that was pretty obvious.

And pretty great, I might add.

This year's London conference was represented by great startups tinkering with algae, microbes, plants, and insects for industrial, consumer, and healthcare applications. The organism industry had a strong presence, as did a host of other services companies -- all of which will break barriers for present and future synthetic biology research and companies. And, of course, academics from the United Kingdom's finest universities were on hand to survey the latest developments in the field.

While synthetic biology has a long road ahead to gain acceptance, awareness, and access to coveted supply chains and markets, the growing maturity of the field was obvious. The energy, the confidence, and the growing pains were all on display. It also made the London gathering a bit different from past events.

U.K. government keeps promise to Eight Great

After being named one of the Eight Great Technologies for spurring economic growth in the United Kingdom, politicians moved to build a nurturing environment for the synthetic biology industry. That was a bit more difficult than it seemed. Deputy Mayor of London Kit Malthouse asked the crowd, "How do we turn academic discovery into businesses?" Good question. Malthouse answered after a pause, saying, "The primary job at city hall is to make sure startups get necessary funding and to support investors and entrepreneurs."

Deputy Mayor of London Kit Malthouse addresses the crowd at Imperial College.

Creating the necessary institutions -- and giving existing institutions incentive to join the roadmap -- is a great place to start. BBSRC has invested over £50 million for basic research in the field, the U.K. BioIndustry Association is working to secure the country's position as a global hub for the broader biotechnology industries, U.K. Trade & Investment provides companies tools to remain competitive in international settings, and the Technology Strategy Board nurtures innovation throughout the country's economy.

But why stop there? At the opening reception the night before the main event, Science Minister David Willetts announced £12 million in funding to spur development for the field. Approximately £10 million will contribute to the effort to establish five centers for DNA synthesis across the U.K, while £2 million help BBSRC and institutions train doctoral students. The good news kept rolling the next day, when Matlhouse disclosed that he was working on creating a $200 million city investment fund to support startups.

The level of direct involvement in the field by the U.K. government may be unparalleled, but what good is getting out of an academic setting if a company takes the wrong approach?

Amyris puts the "engineering" in "biology"

I took a bioreactor design course in my final semester in college, in which students were assigned groups and had to work together to design a facility that would produce 100 kilograms of an active pharmaceutical ingredient. It was taught by two of the most successful engineers at Bristol-Myers Squibb, who worked together designing and scaling many of the company's facilities in the last 20 years. Despite their success, they would often tell us that "scale-up is more of an art than a science". Good thing to learn after spending four years on tuition!

Now, they were obviously simplifying their experiences to some degree, and speaking to process scheduling more than fermentation, but working with 10,000 liter tanks and an organism that natively makes a therapeutic compound is "a bit" different than tossing a highly engineered organism into a 600,000 liter tank. The selling prices for pharmaceutical compounds allow companies to get away with smaller volume, and perhaps less than optimal, fermentation. Yet, I think many synthetic biology companies initially approached the commercialization of synthetic biology with the same mindset: Art, not science.

For instance, Amyris faced some unique challenges commercializing its technology. The company's process worked great a lab scale, but was unreliable and inconsistent at larger volumes. Sometimes yeast produced marketable quantities of the renewable hydrocarbon farnesene, sometimes they succumbed to contamination. Tim Gardner was unapologetically candid about the early struggles in his keynote address.

Tim Gardner of Amyris describes the engineering methods needed for reliable commercialization.

While the public market pressures companies to focus on scale, Gardner noted that "industrialization isn't about scale, it's about reproducibility." That is more difficult than it sounds when it comes to biology. In fact, when Bayer and Amgen set out to recreate the results of dozens of published research studies in the life sciences they discovered that only 21% and 11%, respectively, could be successfully reproduced. That is not good.

After learning some painful lessons about its approach, how did Amyris turn things around? To focus on reproducibility, you need to focus on engineering principles. To focus on engineering principles, you need to focus on data. The right kind of data. Amyris discovered several overlooked problems, both mechanical and biological, in its attempt to scale. That may already be paying dividends: the company recently restarted operations at its Brotas facility without problems. Now it can begin focusing on producing products for cosmetic applications, the tire market, and flavor and fragrance industry.

The importance of Gardner's talk cannot be overstated. Every synthetic biology startup should learn from past mishaps and failed approaches in the industry. The race to get a meaningful product into the hands of paying customers will probably not be successful if a platform cannot deliver reliable and consistent results. To do that, companies need to begin looking at biology through the lens of an engineer.

Where are the investors?

Once an idea that was hatched from an academic setting secures the necessary funding from the U.K. government to prove commercial potential and the innovators learn from past mistakes to inject engineering principles into their approach it needs some outside capital. Unfortunately, that may be harder to come by in the U.K. The investing environment in the U.K. isn't as robust as it is in the Bay Area or in (Boston's) Cambridge, which is something the industry is beginning to address. The investor roundtable provided many great insights into the mind of venture capitalists and angel investors. One of the most valuable pertaining to the elephant in the room was yielded by Una Ryan, who simply stated, "Many won't invest in synthetic biology in the U.K. without follow-on investments available. We need to build an environment for success."

Investors Jenny Rooke (second from right) and Una Ryan (far right) kept the testosterone at bay.

There were calls for more women to become entrepreneurs and a few ideas about approaching product launch. For instance, Ryan suggested that the Tesla model of launching a luxury product before a mass market product can work for synthetic biology, too. Denver Dale told entrepreneurs aiming for a successful product launch to ask themselves, "Who is going to crave what we're doing? When and why will they crave it?"

The roundtable also spoke of the role investors play in getting a company to a successful tipping point, which is often an exit for investors. Perhaps nothing summed up that role better than, "Venture capitalists are the roadies, not the rockstars", which was admitted by Dale. What motivates investors? Karl Handelsman enthusiastically shouted, "Competitiveness drives many people as well. I want to win!" Meanwhile, Ryan spoke of the importance of having a mission, but noted that it is necessary to make money along the way. Otherwise, that mission is unsustainable.

SynBioBeta London- Until next year

So what the heck makes a synthetic biology startup successful? You could probably get 10 unique answers if you asked 10 different people -- and they could all be correct! There are many different ways to take an idea from academia to the market successfully. While larger amounts of capital are still infiltrating the Golden Triangle of the U.K., it would be difficult to argue that the country doesn't offer one of the best environments for innovation. How far will that commitment to the field carry synthetic biology one year from now? How many new products, companies, and people will be infected by the industry bug? We will have to find out together when SynBioBeta returns to Imperial College London next April.

Photos credited to Hannah Lucy Jones.