UQ Biosustainability Hub
Harnessing biology for real-world impact
Our world faces urgent challenges including climate change, limited resources, food security and industrial emissions. Solving them requires more than isolated breakthroughs; it demands coordinated, scalable and sustainable solutions.
For us, biosustainability means using biology to create systems that are environmentally responsible, economically viable and ready for industry. The UQ Biosustainability Hub is a collaborative research environment built to tackle problems at scale.
By bringing together experts across synthetic biology, bioprocess engineering, data science and economics, the UQ Biosustainability Hub accelerates the translation of bold ideas into real-world solutions.
Where we create impact
Mining and critical minerals
Energy and fuels
Chemical manufacturing
Food and ingredients
Sustainable Agriculture
Water and waste
Functional materials
Government and translational research
Latest Biohub News
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Harnessing waste gases to create value
16 June 2026
How do we decide which problems to solve?
The world is full of complex challenges, but not every idea leads to meaningful change.
That’s why we work closely with industry and government to identify opportunities where our technologies can create real value.Through techno-economic, lifecycle and market analyses, we ensure every solution we develop is impactful, scalable and ready for market adoption.
What we can do
The UQ Biosustainability Hub combines expertise with specialised world-class infrastructure, enabling industry-aligned research from early concept through to pilot scale.
Our technical capabilities
Advanced fermentation
- Precision fermentation
- Gas fermentation
- Cell-free biomanufacturing
Bioprocess engineering & scale-up
- Bioprocess engineering and fermentation optimisation
- Bioprocess design, scale-up and pilot-scale translation for industrial deployment
Computational & systems biology
- Rational strain design, metabolic modelling and machine learning
- Techno-economic analysis (TEA), lifecycle assessment (LCA) and process sensitivity analysis
Synthetic biology
- Systems metabolic and enzyme engineering for microbial strain development and optimisation
- Synthetic microbial communities and cell-free systems for advanced biomanufacturing
Our infrastructure
We house two NCRIS-funded national research facilities – IDEA Bio and Q-MAP – alongside a purpose-built pre-pilot fermentation facility.
IDEA Bio – bioprocess development biofoundry
- End-to-end support across the Design–Build–Test–Learn cycle
- Integrated wet-lab and computational expertise for strain engineering and fermentation development
- Over 100 bioreactors enabling high-throughput strain and bioprocess development
- Automated strain engineering capabilities
Q-MAP – Advanced multi-omics and analytics
- Deep analytical capabilities in metabolomics and proteomics
- Advanced instrumentation including LC-MS systems, GC-MS and multiple HPLC systems
- Automation and robotics enabling high-throughput sample preparation and analysis
Pilot facility
- Pilot-scale fermentation capability with reactors up to 60 litres per vessel
- OGTR-certified PC2 large-scale containment and a HACCP-aligned quality management system
- Integrated downstream infrastructure in collaboration with FaBA MakerSpace
Our people and expertise
- Home to 11 research groups and more than 100 members
- World leaders in synthetic biology, bioprocess engineering and techno-economic research
- The UQ Biosustainability hub spans multiple UQ schools and institutes
The UQ Biosustainability Hub is advancing fermentation-based manufacturing to complement traditional farming and fisheries. Precision fermentation is a technology that uses microbes as production platforms to manufacture specific food ingredients such as proteins and functional compounds, in controlled systems.
The UQ Biosustainability Hub is harnessing microbes to convert waste gases, such as carbon dioxide and methane into valuable products through gas fermentation.
To unlock value from waste streams, the UQ Biosustainability Hub is pioneering new pathways to recover critical minerals using synthetic biology and advanced bioprocessing.
The UQ Biosustainability Hub is finding and selecting beneficial microbes that enhance nutrient cycling and restore essential soil functions.
The Biosustainability Hub combines expertise with specialised world-class infrastructure, enabling industry-aligned research from early concept through to pilot scale.
Leadership
Systems metabolic engineering for industrial biotechnology
Systems and synthetic biology
Economics of innovation and commercialisation
Discovery and optimisation of enzymes for the bioeconomy
Biodegradable polymers for a circular economy
Environmental engineering for critical minerals recovery and bioremediation
Yeast Engineering and Synthetic Biology (YESBio) for Sustainability
Wastewater treatment, resource recovery and sustainable materials and processes
Protein engineering and ancestral sequence reconstruction
Microbial natural product biodiscovery (Biosustainable Life Out of Microbes)
The UQ Biosustainability Hub develops economically viable, biobased solutions to transition to a more secure and sustainable world.
Contact us to discuss how we can develop solutions to meet your needs.
The UQ Biosustainability Hub is part of the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, housed in the Andrew N. Liveris Building at The University of Queensland
Contact us
Get in touch to learn more about our research.
Professor Esteban Marcellin
Director of the Biosustainability Hub
e.marcellin@uq.edu.au
Mariko Terasaki Hart
Biosustainability Hub Manager
m.terasakihart@uq.edu.au