How Synthetic Biology Will Help Us Build a Sustainable Future | Stephen Wallace | TEDxVienna

00:11:42
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QErqEo27M8

Résumé

TLDRPuhe käsittelee synteettisen biologian ja mikrobiologian roolia kestävän kehityksen edistämisessä teollisuudessa. Tällä hetkellä vaateteollisuus ja lääkeaineiden valmistus perustuvat suurelta osin fossiilisiin polttoaineisiin, mikä johtaa valtaviin hiilidioksidipäästöihin ja ympäristön saastumiseen. Tutkija esittelee mahdollisuuden käyttää mikro-organismeja, kuten bakteereja, 'elävinä tehtaina', jotka eivät vaadi fossiilisia polttoaineita ja tuottavat vähemmän saasteita. Esimerkiksi ligniinijätettä voidaan käyttää mikrobien kanssa adipiinihapon tuottamiseen, mikä voisi merkittävästi vähentää ympäristövaikutuksia. Tämä uusi, synteettisen biologian mahdollistama tuotantotapa voi johtaa vihreämpään ja kestävämpään tulevaisuuteen.

A retenir

  • 🧥 Suuri osa vaatteista valmistetaan fossiilisista polttoaineista.
  • 🌍 Vaatteiden valmistus on iso saastuttaja globaalisti.
  • 🔬 Synteettinen biologia voi tarjota vihreitä ratkaisuja.
  • 🥼 Mikro-organismit voivat toimia 'elävinä tehtaina'.
  • 🧪 Adipiinihappo tuotetaan usein saastuttavilla prosesseilla.
  • ♻️ Ligniinijäte voidaan käyttää kestävään kemikaalituotantoon.
  • 🚗 Mikrobien käyttö voi vähentää päästöjä massiivisesti.
  • 🧬 Mikrobien geneettinen muokkaus avaa uusia mahdollisuuksia.
  • 🗑️ Jätteet voidaan muuntaa arvokkaiksi resursseiksi.
  • 🔄 Tavoitteena on kiertotalousyhteiskunta ilman jätettä.

Chronologie

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:00

    Puhuja esittelee, kuinka vaatteet ja lääkkeet, joita käytämme päivittäin, ovat pitkälti peräisin fossiilisista polttoaineista. Noin kaksi kolmasosaa vaatteistamme on valmistettu suoraan fossiilisista polttoaineista, ja 80% vaatteista päätyy jätteeksi seuraavan 5-10 vuoden aikana, mikä tekee vaateteollisuudesta yhden saastuttavimmista teollisuudenaloista. Lisäksi 70% markkinoilla olevista lääkkeistä valmistetaan fossiilisista polttoaineista. Tämä massiivinen riippuvuus fossiilisista resursseista ei ole kestävää, ja meidän on löydettävä keinoja muuttaa valmistusvalikoimaamme, erityisesti kun otetaan huomioon sen saastevaikutukset ja rajallisuus.

  • 00:05:00 - 00:11:42

    Puhuja käsittelee mahdollisuutta käyttää mikrobeja uusiutuvina kemiallisina tehtaina vaatetus- ja lääketeollisuuden alalla. Edinburghin yliopistossa tehdään tutkimusta synteettisen biologian alalla, jossa mikrobeja voidaan ohjelmoida tekemään uusia asioita, kuten tuottamaan adipiinihappoa, jota käytetään vaatteiden valmistuksessa. Tämä prosessi voisi korvata teollisen menetelmän, joka tuottaa suuren määrän hiilidioksidipäästöjä, ja samalla käyttää jäteligniiniä, jota syntyy paperi- ja maatalousteollisuudessa. Puhuja visioi tulevaisuuden, jossa hyödynnetään synteettistä biologiaa kestävään vaatteiden ja lääkkeiden tuotantoon, mikä vähentäisi jätettä ja ympäristökuormitusta, samalla kun mikrobit voisivat esimerkiksi korjata vaatteita tai lääkkeitä suoraan ihmiskehossa.

Carte mentale

Mind Map

Questions fréquemment posées

  • Miksi vaateteollisuus on haitallista ympäristölle?

    Vaateteollisuus aiheuttaa lähes 10% kaikista maailmanlaajuisista hiilidioksidipäästöistä, ja tuotteet valmistetaan usein fossiilisista polttoaineista.

  • Miten synteettinen biologia voi auttaa ympäristöä?

    Synteettinen biologia voi ohjelmoida mikrobeja valmistamaan kemikaaleja uusiutuvista luonnonvaroista, mikä vähentää fossiilisten polttoaineiden tarvetta ja hiilidioksidipäästöjä.

  • Mikä on synteettinen biologia?

    Synteettinen biologia on teknologia, joka mahdollistaa mikrobien ohjelmoinnin tekemään uusia asioita, esimerkiksi muuntamalla niiden aineenvaihduntaa valmistamaan kemikaaleja.

  • Mitä on adipiinihappo ja miksi se on tärkeä?

    Adipiinihappo on kemikaali, jota käytetään laajasti vaatteiden ja nailonin valmistukseen. Sen tuotanto fossiilisista polttoaineista aiheuttaa suuria hiilidioksidipäästöjä.

  • Kuinka synteettinen biologiaa voidaan soveltaa vaatteiden valmistuksessa?

    Synteettisellä biologialla voidaan muokata mikrobeja valmistamaan vaatteiden valmistukseen tarvittavia kemikaaleja kierrätysmateriaalista, kuten muovijätteestä, ilman fossiilisia polttoaineita.

  • Mikä on guajakoli ja miten se liittyy tutkimukseen?

    Guajakoli on ligniinistä saatava molekyyli, jota voidaan käyttää adipiinihapon valmistukseen mikrobien avulla, mikä on kestävämpi vaihtoehto fossiilisille polttoaineille.

  • Miten paperiteollisuus liittyy adipiinihapon valmistukseen?

    Paperiteollisuus tuottaa vuosittain 17 miljoonaa tonnia ligniinijätettä, jota voidaan hyödyntää adipiinihapon tuotannossa mikrobien avulla.

  • Millaisia etuja mikrobien käyttö voi tuottaa verrattuna perinteiseen kemianteollisuuteen?

    Mikrobien käyttö voi vähentää hiilidioksidipäästöjä ja fossiilisten polttoaineiden kulutusta tekemällä kemian prosessit uusiutuviksi ja ympäristöystävällisemmiksi.

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    foreign
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    [Music]
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    I'd like you all to pinch your clothes
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    maybe the jumper you're wearing right
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    now the jacket maybe the handbag you
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    brought with you today
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    and to take a second to think about what
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    you're holding in your hands
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    you'd be right to think that these are
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    materials right
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    that these materials are made of
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    molecules
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    but have you ever thought about where
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    these molecules come from
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    so like mine your clothes are probably a
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    mixture of natural and synthetic fibers
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    right
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    and these synthetic fibers are made of
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    molecules that look like this
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    and these molecules they're made in
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    factories
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    they look like this
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    and they're made
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    from this
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    oil
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    in fact two-thirds of the clothing
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    you're wearing today right now
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    are made directly from fossil fuels
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    and eighty percent of the clothing that
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    you own today
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    will likely end up in landfill within
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    the next five to ten years
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    for these reasons that the clothing
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    industry is perhaps one of the most
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    polluting Industries worldwide right now
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    it emits almost 10 percent of all Global
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    carbon dioxide emissions
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    so maybe maybe like me you had a bit of
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    a hard week at work this week
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    and this morning you took a paracetamol
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    to ease your headache
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    or maybe you've been to the dentist
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    and you got an anesthetic
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    or maybe you just had too much lunch
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    right and you you had an antacid to help
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    your heartburn
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    have you ever stopped to think about
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    where these medicines come from
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    they're all made from oil
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    in fact 70 of the top 100
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    Pharmaceuticals on the market today
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    are made directly from fossil fuels
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    and this fact has fascinated me
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    throughout my career as a chemist
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    because it turns out our modern day
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    Society has an insatiable thirst
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    for fossil fuels
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    we need it we need oil to basically
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    manufacture everything that we use every
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    single day
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    and you know it turns out we've been
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    going down this one-way Street for the
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    best part of a century now
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    but we've reached a really critical
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    stage in that Journey right now
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    and that is because we use 10 billion
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    tons of this natural resource every
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    single year
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    to make few and to make chemicals
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    and these industrial activities are
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    polluting our planet
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    they're driving global climate change
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    and fossil fuels are running out
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    as an alarming rate
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    it's pretty contested in my field right
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    now
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    but it's accepted that this is going to
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    happen in a number of years that has two
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    digits and doesn't have three
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    and therefore this is going to be
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    something that happens in the lifetime
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    of our children
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    and our grandchildren
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    and therefore if we want to do something
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    about this we have to start making
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    changes now
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    solving this problem cannot wait any
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    longer
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    so my question for you at Ted today is
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    do our factories have to look like this
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    what happens if they didn't emit any
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    carbon emissions
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    what if they no longer relied on fossil
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    fuels at all
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    what if they were living factories
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    and talking about microorganisms
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    these beautiful invisible living beings
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    they live on your skin they live in your
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    body
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    they live in your homes and in your
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    Gardens
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    they live in this room right now
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    and within all of these environments
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    they perform amazing feats of chemistry
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    their Nature's chemical factories
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    and we've known this for for the best
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    part of 2000 years
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    because we use this microbial chemistry
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    every day
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    to make many of the things that we love
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    like cheese
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    soy sauce
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    and the delicious beverages I'm sure
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    you're going to partake in very
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    responsibly this evening
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    none of these would be possible if it
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    wasn't for microbial chemistry
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    and it turns out saccharomyces is just
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    like us it loves sugar
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    except when we feed it sugar it gives us
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    alcohol and the Beautiful Aromas in your
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    beer
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    but what if this is not all
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    that microbes could do for us
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    what if the pen you're holding right now
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    could be made using a microbe
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    the clothing you're wearing right now
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    that paracetamol you took this morning
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    what if it could be made using a living
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    chemical Factory
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    so this is in essence what my lab
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    research is at the University of
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    Edinburgh in the area of synthetic
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    biology
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    now synthetic biology is an emerging
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    technology that essentially enables us
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    to program microbes to do new things
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    to do things they've never had to do
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    before in nature
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    rewiring their metabolism a bit like a
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    circuit board
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    so that these microbes no longer make
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    your cheese
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    to make your handbag
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    and to do this we have to reorder their
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    genes and these genes are made of DNA
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    the building blocks of the cell
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    and then what we can do is by doing this
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    we can change the chemistry of these
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    microorganisms
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    so that they no longer make your soy
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    sauce or your beer
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    they make something much better
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    like this
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    adeptic acids
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    now I would forgive you for not knowing
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    what atific acid is but
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    I guarantee that you're all in contact
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    with it right now
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    because the adipic acid is used to make
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    your clothes it's used to make nylon
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    and it's probably one of the most
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    prolific chemicals in the world right
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    now
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    in fact we make over 30 billion tons of
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    it every single year exclusively from
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    fossil fuels
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    via an industrial process that emits
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    huge amounts of carbon emissions into
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    the into the atmosphere
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    in fact it's been estimated that we're
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    able to replace this industrial process
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    with a microbial living Factory
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    it would have the same environmental
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    benefits as electrifying every single
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    car in the UK twice over
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    so this is the question we've been
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    asking ourselves for the last couple of
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    years
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    can we make atypic acid from something a
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    little bit more sustainable
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    the bar is pretty low right
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    something like this
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    it turns out in nature there's a polymer
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    called lignin
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    now lignin is a really sustainable
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    material it's a really strong material
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    the plants use to strengthen themselves
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    as they grow Against Gravity towards the
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    Sun
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    and lignin is made of this molecule here
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    guacal
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    and it turns out guaco is the perfect
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    chemical to make a dipic acid in a
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    microbe
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    and even better than that what's not
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    good at all it's terrible actually we
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    create 17 million tons of this waste
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    every single year
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    from the paper milling and the
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    agricultural Industries
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    let's put that in a bit more context
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    that's the same as 200 empire state
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    buildings worth of waste every single
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    year or roughly 400 000 homes
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    that's half the size of Vienna today
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    every single year
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    that we simply sent a landfill or we
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    incinerate sending that carbon into the
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    atmosphere
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    what we've managed to do recently is to
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    rewire bacteria so that they now break
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    down gwiacol from lignin waste into
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    atopic acids
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    no longer in a factory like the ones I
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    showed you earlier releasing all of
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    these toxic chemicals into the
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    atmosphere but instead in reactions that
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    look like this
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    in these living microbial factories in
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    water
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    at room temperature
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    releasing no carbon emissions
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    and critically not using any fossil
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    fuels at all
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    now we're really excited about this
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    discovery because it's the first time
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    that this molecule this prolific
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    industrial chemical has been made from
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    this available abundance natural
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    resource by a living microbial Factory
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    and I think what this does is it paves
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    the way for the sustainable manufacture
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    of your clothing in the future
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    in a way that's not so destructive to
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    the planet around us in a way that's far
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    more sustainable Greener and cleaner
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    and synthetic biology is amazing right
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    because we can just rewire the circuit
  • 00:09:21
    boards
  • 00:09:22
    to make a dipic acid from something else
  • 00:09:24
    right
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    something like this
  • 00:09:28
    plastic waste
  • 00:09:31
    so therefore imagine being able to take
  • 00:09:33
    the plastic waste that's currently
  • 00:09:34
    polluting the ocean
  • 00:09:36
    and to use that to make your clothing
  • 00:09:39
    using bacteria
  • 00:09:42
    or to take the millions of tons of
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    plastic waste that's polluting
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    environments World worldwide right now
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    maybe to use that as a source of human
  • 00:09:50
    medicine
  • 00:09:52
    using bacteria
  • 00:09:54
    now these are all possibilities that are
  • 00:09:57
    being developed right now in the field
  • 00:09:59
    of synthetic biology
  • 00:10:02
    and the story doesn't even end there
  • 00:10:05
    one of the most densely populated
  • 00:10:07
    microbial habitats on Earth is the human
  • 00:10:09
    body
  • 00:10:11
    we live in close proximity with these
  • 00:10:13
    microorganisms every single day
  • 00:10:16
    in fact you're in contact with almost 40
  • 00:10:18
    trillion of them right now
  • 00:10:22
    so therefore imagine having these living
  • 00:10:24
    factories living inside you
  • 00:10:27
    medicating you only when you need
  • 00:10:29
    treatments
  • 00:10:32
    or perhaps living inside your clothes
  • 00:10:34
    fixing them only when they need repairs
  • 00:10:38
    these are all technologies that are
  • 00:10:40
    possible in the future
  • 00:10:42
    using synthetic biology
  • 00:10:44
    and the amazing chemistry of these
  • 00:10:46
    microscopic living creatures
  • 00:10:50
    so all together I think
  • 00:10:52
    despite what you maybe see in the news
  • 00:10:54
    every day this makes me really
  • 00:10:55
    optimistic about the future
  • 00:10:58
    a future where we no longer exploit
  • 00:11:01
    nature
  • 00:11:03
    traveling down this one-way Street of
  • 00:11:05
    spiraling emissions and mountains of
  • 00:11:08
    waste
  • 00:11:10
    but instead
  • 00:11:11
    I see synthetic biology being able to
  • 00:11:14
    take us to much more virtuous circles
  • 00:11:17
    perhaps the future where there's no such
  • 00:11:19
    thing as waste
  • 00:11:21
    where we use these living factories
  • 00:11:24
    that are cleaner
  • 00:11:26
    they're greener
  • 00:11:28
    and they're powered by processes that
  • 00:11:29
    nature has been evolving for us for
  • 00:11:31
    millions of years
  • 00:11:33
    thank you
  • 00:11:34
    [Applause]
Tags
  • synteettinen biologia
  • mikro-organismit
  • fossiiliset polttoaineet
  • kestävä kehitys
  • hiilidioksidipäästöt
  • adipiinihappo
  • ligniini
  • kiertotalous
  • ympäristöystävällisyys
  • jätteen hyödyntäminen