Crossing The Valley Of Death: Making Renewables Mainstream

We are in the midst of a biological revolution that is making it possible to use engineered organisms that consume low-cost, renewable plant materials and convert them to chemicals previously derived from petroleum. Driven by increasing environmental concerns over climate change, and fuelled by breakthroughs in biology, genomics, and computer science, economically replacing chemicals with renewables is not only possible, but essential.  Amyris is at the forefront of this revolution, but many challenges remain.  Entrenched chemistry mindsets, a fully depreciated petroleum infrastructure, and fear of a new technology all slow entry of renewables into the marketplace.  During this presentation I will describe the development of the synthetic biology platform we use, the molecules we make, and the manufacturing facility we built to take chemical production from renewable feedstocks from the lab to market.  And all the associated challenges!​