Jose Morey writes for Forbes Technology Council in recent article "Industry 5.0: Extremophiles And The Future Of Bioengineering"
Industry 5.0: Extremophiles And The Future Of Bioengineering
Jose Morey Forbes Councils MemberForbes Technology CouncilCOUNCIL POST | Paid Program Innovation
POST WRITTEN BY
José Morey
José Morey, M.D., is considered the first Intergalactic Doctor, and is a leader in exponential technology innovation. @DrMorey1
The use of steam and water for industrial purposes was the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. Then came electricity, which spawned true mass production. And for the last several decades, it has been information technology and electronics that have brought about the Third Industrial Revolution. But we have seen an evolution in industrial production in the last few decades that has been brought along by the combination of the digital realm and the biologic.
This fourth industrial age really began in the latter half of the 20th century when physician-scientists began using recombinant DNA within the health sector. Then began the onset of genetically altered agriculture to promote resistant and more productive foodstuffs.
But it was the advent of systems biology that truly set us along the path of the last Industrial Revolution when we started turning microbes into factories. This has allowed microbes to create things such as biodegradable polymers that can be used for medical operations to modified yeasts that can create medications.
And now, we see ourselves at the dawn of the next Industrial Revolution, which will be catalyzed by the use of extremophiles for bioengineering. Extremophiles are microorganisms that live in conditions of extreme temperature, acidity, alkalinity or chemical concentration.
We have already seen several thermophiles (extremophiles that live in high temperatures) revolutionize biotechnology and criminology. The use of their DNA polymerase for automated polymerase chain reaction (PCR) has become a staple of basic science research and has accrued billions in royalties.
Biofuels is another industry in which extremophiles are leading the new industrial age. This is because of the extreme pH and temperatures in which these processes occur. Organisms such as methanogens (extremophiles that are the only known biologic producers of methane) and extremophilic algae, which contain the long-chain hydrocarbons needed to mimic those found in petroleum, are essential for biodiesel.
The medical field is the industry that is most ripe for revolutionary disruption due to the new industrial age of extremophile bioengineering. This is because extreme bacteria, algae, fungi and other microorganisms that live in these extreme conditions have evolved unique characteristics that have allowed them to thrive when typical organisms could not.
These evolutionary adaptations can allow the production of unique enzymes, which can potentially help aid some of our most pressing medical problems such as combating biofilm-mediated, hospital-acquired infections; line/tube infections; implantable infections; multidrug-resistant infections such as tuberculosis; or other chronic infections such as wounds from burns or diabetic foot wounds. We have already seen halophiles (extremophiles that can live in high-salinity environments) that manufacture diketopiperazines, which, according to biotechnology professor James A. Coker, "have been shown to affect blood-clotting functions as well as having antimicrobial, antifungal, antiviral, and antitumor properties."
NASA itself has a unique interest in extremophiles due to the analog environments in which these organisms live. These habitats are similar to those found on Venus, Mars, Titan, Enceladus and other potential off-Earth environments in which life may have also evolved. The agency often searches for them in places with extreme salinity, pH and radiation.
I believe this revolution will require unique collaborations between public, private and academic institutions that will bring together the correct cadre of talent to classify, quantify and generate medically useful products.
Generating real-world applications from extremophiles will require collaborations with entities such as NASA's Planetary Defense division (which has unique skill setsin extreme microorganisms), exploratory biology labs, and industry partners with both private- and public-sector experience in exploratory science. These unique teams will work together to decode the diverse adaptations that these novel organisms have undergone in order to survive, and to replicate their unique traits for industrial and medical applications.
The last century has seen some truly amazing industrial revolutions. However, if there has ever been any period one would desire to be born in, it is this next coming revolution spawned by extremophiles and the very edges of scientific and evolutionary possibilities. When old and the new industries stand side by side and are augmented by microorganisms that have evolved to withstand the harshest of environments, we will truly be entering an age when fear can become hope and when past glories can be renewed again by the rich possibilities of a new era.
It was Ralph Waldo Emerson who wrote, "Every revolution was first a thought in one man's mind." This next one, however, will begin in the extremes.