When people think about engineering, they usually think of mechanical engineers. Bioengineering is an interesting engineering discipline that is less visible. Bioengineers often apply engineering principles to biological systems and use the building blocks of life to assemble artificial life. They engineer enzymes with new-to-nature functionality and create biomedical technologies.
Since the beginning of time nature has created tantalizing beauty and complexity in the macroscopic and microscopic world. Today’s bioengineers focus on the microscopic world, their work remaining invisible to the naked eyes. A major goal of many bioengineers is to increase structural and functional diversity in enzymes or to create and assemble completely new enzymes, enzyme complexes and enzyme cascades.
An enzyme is not only a string of amino acids, it also folds into combinations of different secondary structures and ultimately into a specific three dimensional or tertiary structure. Two molecules with the same amino acid sequence will fold into the same 3D structure. This process is super-fast despite the number of possible 3D folds of an amino acid chain exceeding the estimated number of atoms in the universe. This paradox is known as Levinthal’s paradox. Advances in artificial intelligence and the finding of certain universal protein folding rules made structure prediction and protein de-novo design possible. Proteins can adopt various complex shapes such as barrels. Several single molecules can assemble into even higher complexity or quaternary structures such as rings and propellers, leading to artistic electron microscopy images that inspire scientific illustrations and artwork.
A bioengineering research group in California developed a computer game, called foldit that allows the players to explore protein design and 3D structure. Results from ambitious players may end up being synthesized in the lab, tested and published. At the student competition iGEM international student teams compete in the creation of artificial biological devices to address unique challenges in their local communities. The students design enzymes and microbes with new functions by assembling genes into minimalized genomes similar to playing with LEGO® bricks. Fascinating projects include culturing bacteria to produce flavors, fragrances and nutritional ingredients, developing diagnostic devices, creating light-driven bioreactors that recycle all involved resources, and cleaning freshwater from micropollutants such as pharmaceuticals.
Bioengineering is a possible solution contributor to several of the UN’s sustainable development goals. It can provide solutions to find new biofuels for example by harnessing energy from biological resources or by creating organisms or biochemical processes that produce biofuels or electricity. Such projects assist reaching the SDGs of climate action and affordable and clean energy. Bioengineering can provide means to make the chemical and pharmaceutical industries safer and more sustainable by substantially reducing the amount of energy required for chemical or pharmaceutical production and reducing the production of toxic waste products or use of toxic solvents. It has the potential to create new sources for nutritional ingredients and food and enhance natural food production in a similar but more targeted way than current breeding practices. Bioengineering can help clean freshwater sources, improve sanitation and dispose of micropollutants. Last but not least, it can create innovative therapeutics and diagnostic tools. Medicine already uses many such efforts: biomedical engineering provides devices that can respond to or be implanted into the human body circumventing mechanical disabilities. Engineered tissues and organoids hold promise for the enhancement of healthcare practices, biomedical research and replacement of animal testing. The first gene therapies in use or in development and gene editing is flourishing albeit still in its infancy.
Bioengineering comes in hand with biosafety and biosecurity, ethics and public outreach. It is highly regulated. iGEM for example enforces efforts in these disciplines and encourages public outreach. Governments permanently monitor innovation in bioengineering and balance risks and benefits. In an informed and collaborative fashion, scientists politicians and the public need to identify and discuss emerging ethical issues and ensure that innovation that enhances human wellbeing is used thoughtfully.
There is a lot of art in artificial. Creating artificial enzymes and cells requires creativity in the design process and aesthetic graphics are needed to breakdown complex results into easily understandable graphics and illustrations. As Dutch artist Theo Jansen once said, “The walls between art and engineering exist only in our minds.”
