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Lords Committee hosts first public evidence session for its Engineering Biology inquiry

Thursday 11 April 2024

A new inquiry by the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee is looking at how engineering biology developed in the UK can benefit the UK, particularly through improvements to public services and economic growth.

Committee members want to examine which areas of engineering biology the UK excels at, and which it is well placed to exploit, and help foster a greater public understanding of engineering biology. 

The Government defines engineering biology as the design, scaling and commercialisation of biology-derived products and services that can transform sectors or enable them to make products more sustainably.  The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology has said that engineering biology is one of five key technologies for the UK and published its National Vision for Engineering Biology in December 2023.

The Committee’s findings will inform a report which makes conclusions and policy recommendations to the Government and key organisations.  

Among the questions the Committee wants to address are: 

  • How does the UK’s approach to engineering biology compare to other nations, such as Germany, China and the US?  

  • Is there a danger that engineering biology advances developed in the UK are exploited overseas? What are the UK’s key strengths in the area of engineering biology, and how can Government support them?

  • What are the key applications for engineering biology and what is on the horizon in the next 5–10 years?

  • Where best should the £2 billion the Government has committed to spend over the next 10 years on engineering biology be focused?

  • How should the Government best support engineering biology start-ups to scale-up in the UK?

  • What role should the UK seek to play in international agreements and regulation of engineering biology? 

At 10.15am on 16 April 2024, the Committee, chaired by Baroness Brown, will hold its first evidence session and hear from: 

  • Professor Paul Freemont (Co-Director at Innovation and Knowledge Centre for Synthetic Biology (SynbiCITE))
  • Dr Carolina Grandellis (Earlham Biofoundry Manager at Earlham Institute)
  • Professor Susan Rosser (Co-Director at Edinburgh Genome Foundry).

11.15am:

  • Professor Tom Ellis (Professor of Synthetic Genome Engineering at Imperial College London)
  • Dr Lucia Marucci (Associate Professor in Systems and Synthetic Biology at University of Bristol).

This evidence session, which is open to the public, will be held in Committee Room 4 at the Palace of Westminster. It will also be streamed live on Parliament TV

The committee is chaired by Baroness Brown. To arrange interview or other media activity, please contact: Sarah Womack womacks@parliament.uk / 020 7219 1692

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