EDUCATING NATURE: TOWARDS THE CREATION OF A BIO-MANUFACTURING DISTRICT IN CAMPANIA

Plastic was the revolution of the twentieth century: a democratic, versatile, economical material that has transformed chemistry into the beating heart of production processes, making carbon and hydrogen the undisputed protagonists of the world we know and its expansion.

Today, faced with the obvious limits of that idea of ​​development, there is a need to simultaneously run for cover and relaunch a transformative vision of our production and economic systems. It is in this context that the up-cycling of waste, the reduction of consumption, the search for materials that do not deplete natural resources, such as materials generated using natural proteins produced by microorganisms or bacteria, are inserted. The answer of the 21st century comes from biology and its intersections with engineering and digital technologies, and takes us to a completely different level: a sustainable and circular production model that is no longer based on extractive, but generative, as well as generative paradigms. reuse and valorisation of waste.

Putting aside the exploration of new resources and technologies to exploit them, research and innovation are increasingly aimed at understanding how nature works in order to imitate it or instruct biological entities to perform complex functions other than the usual ones, forcing them to create new reactions and new materials. T

his is how the line of materials with a biological matrix was born, built by controlling the supramolecular organization of biomolecules synthesized by biological entities (collagen, cellulose, fibroin, etc.) which - fed by non-fossil sources such as food waste (apple, grapes), biogas or sunlight - are renewable sources of continuous production. The possibilities of biologizing material production systems, through the use of synthetic biology to adapt and / or optimize microorganisms, is almost unlimited and by 2030 it will forcefully enter almost all production contexts.

This transformation will impact the way we produce our food and the food we eat and especially the sources from which we source our materials and medicines. For example, steaks or hamburgers produced in vitro are already available in 10,000 delicatessens, materials for textiles and cosmetics produced by bacteria are already available on the market and new drugs obtained using the paradigms of synthetic biology are already in our hospitals.

Speakers

Paolo Netti Director of the IIT @ CRIB and Professor of the University of Naples Federico II

Marco Moracci  Department of Biology, University of Naples Federico II, Ibisba-European Research Infrastructure for Industrial Biotechnology

Stefania De Pascale  Professor of the Chair of Plant Production, Department of Agriculture, University of Naples Federico II, Laboratory of Crop Research for Space

Marco Abbro Project coordinator BIOlogic - Knowledge for Business 

Stefano Babbini STEFANO BABBINI CeO MOGU

Giovanna Romano Co-founder Biosearch srl

Francesca Cocco Chairman - Head of Business Development Knowledge for Business