To achieve the goal of producing biofuel from plant biomass (lignocellulose), the plant cell wall can be degraded by a cocktail of hydrolase enzymes that generate monosaccharide sugars (saccharification). Biomass feedstocks are pretreated to increase enzyme accessibility of the cellulose and hemicelluloses prior to addition of the enzyme cocktails. The released sugars are then industrially fermented to generate biofuels such as ethanol and butanol. The viability of lignocellulosic biofuel technology will depend on maximising the fermentable sugar from biomass, and minimising the costs of processing. Currently, it is difficult to use the pentose-rich hemicellulose xylan component which constitutes 20- 30% of most feedstocks such as grass and wood. This xylan impedes enzyme access to the cellulose, in part through links with the lignin. One of the main problems is that it is a branched polymer that is difficult to break down with enzymes. Acid treatments to break up the hemicellulose can generate inhibitors that prevent effective microbial fermentation and reduce the yield of sugars. This programme aims to achieve a better understanding of the genetic control of hemicellulose synthesis, especially the branched xylan component of biomass, and the impact of xylan branching on enzyme accessibility. It will develop a comprehensive characterisation of plant polysaccharide synthesis machinery, and how the synthesis enzymes work together in protein complexes. The programme will also discover and characterise effective enzymes that break down this component to monosaccharides. The programme will deliver enabling technologies for high throughput, detailed, quantitative analysis of biomass hemicelluloses and the activity of the enzymes that break them down. Based on this knowledge, strategies of plant breeding or modification, and also of hydrolytic enzyme selection, will be proposed in order to reduce the costs of use of the branched xylan component of biomass, and to release the cellulose for saccharification. The programme in Cambridge to study cell wall synthesis and to develop the polysaccharide and hydrolase profiling technologies is supported by enzyme discovery in the University of Newcastle, with Dr David Bolam and collaboration with Professor Harry Gilbert. Shell Global Solutions are collaborators in the programme, providing an important industrial perspective and bioinformatic support. Additional enzymes for method development and for analysis of cell wall polysaccharides will be provided and studied in collaboration with Novozymes, the world leader in enzyme production.

Research at the intersection of biology and engineering has expanded our understanding of living systems and the many unique and valuable capabilities they possess. Scientists and engineers have now begun to harness this knowledge in new ways to address some of humanity's most pressing challenges. For example, using engineered biosystems we can create innovative healthcare solutions, enable more sustainable forms of agriculture, and support clean manufacturing methods. The emerging field of Engineering Biology aims to harness biology to build technologies for a healthy, sustainable, and equitable future. However, to date the lack of a rigorous biological engineering process has resulted in biosystems that are fragile, unpredictable, and difficult to scale when applied in real-world settings. Early pioneers in fields ranging from Aerospace to Information Technologies faced similar challenges when attempting to create robust and reliable systems. Such difficulties were oftentimes overcome using methods from systems and control engineering, which enabled rigorous approaches to the design, optimisation, and realisation of engineered systems, ultimately leading to dramatic economic growth and the creation of entirely new industries. To achieve an equivalent step-change in the engineering of reliable and robust biological systems, our programme will develop similar control and Artificial Intelligence systems in biotechnology - which we term feedback biocontrollers. These biocontrollers will be designed to operate within cells, between cells, and even to interact with non-biological entities (such as computers), thereby allowing researchers and innovators to efficiently and safely harness engineered biology in its many real-world applications. The robust engineering of biological control systems will be underpinned by the development of four "Engineering Pillars". These cover Theory (mathematical/AI approaches based on systems and control theory to model, design, analyse, and optimise biosystems), Software (computational tools able to translate this theory into conceptual designs), Wetware (experimental methods and biological parts to make designs a biological reality), and Hardware (to comprehensively test, scale-up, and deploy engineered biosystems). Each Pillar feeds directly into an integrated "Design-Build-Test-Learn" cycle rooted in systems and control engineering methods, which will accelerate academic and industrial development of new biotechnologies. Technologies developed in each Engineering Pillar will be integrated to address outstanding problems in three "Grand Challenge'' application domains: Biomedicine, Agriculture, and the Environment. Our team will work with industrial partners to generate world-leading solutions for each of these areas, demonstrating how biocontrollers can revolutionise scale-up and deployment of reliable engineered biotechnologies. The EEBio programme represents a timely investment in the new field of Engineering Biology which is set to play a defining role in the future of our society and the rapidly growing Bioeconomy. Our team of world-leading experts and up-and-coming early career researchers will create tools and technologies that are key to the effective engineering of biological systems - as observed in other, mature engineering fields - but which are not yet realised for Engineering Biology. EEBio brings together recent momentum across our team for rapid impact, while also supporting development of seminal ideas; in the near-term this will help address Grand Challenges we face today, while in the long-term it will provide the foundation for many bio-based solutions that will improve human life, agriculture, and the environment. Our work will accelerate responsible industrial exploitation, open up the field to other research communities (in the life, medical and social sciences), and support public confidence in the safety and reliability of Engineering Biology.

The pharmaceutical, chemical and polymer industries are cornerstones of Europe's economy. A key element for their transition to more sustainable processes and to innovative new compounds is biocatalysis. Of particular interest are metallo-enzymes, i.e. proteins that host a metal cofactor. They catalyze a multitude of redox and radical reactions. To access reactions that are unknown in nature, artificial metallo-enzymes can be created. They combine the new-to-nature catalytic activity of metal complexes with the selectivity-inducing environment of the active protein site. To develop novel biocatalysts, a highly interdisciplinary skill set is needed. MetRaZymes will create a PhD school across leading European universities that will train the next generation of scientists capable of tackling the design, development and implementation of novel enzymatic reactions in a holistic approach. It brings together computational bioscientists, bioinorganic and polymer chemists, and bioprocess engineers. Using artificial and repurposed metalloenzymes as the focal point, the ESRs will develop novel biocatalysts for radical reactions of high synthetic value, such as the late stage modification of pharmaceutical intermediates or the synthesis of polymers from renewable monomers. To train the ESRs in the needs of industrial biotechnology, the consortium includes eight of Europe's leading pharmaceutical, chemical and enzymology companies. The ESRs will benefit from a vast transferable skills training program delivered by five training partners. Highlights include a Nature Masterclass and Wikipedia workshop. Communication partners such as Wikimedia and the Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre will act as muliplicators for the communication of results. Moreover, the ESRs will work with artist that use biology as their way of expression to create an ARTzymes exhibition that will foster the ERS's creativity and result in a an unique form of science dialogue with the general public

Driven by a range of environmental challenges e.g. climate change, energy and material insecurity, a transition from the current fossil-based to a future bio-based economy is expected to evolve progressively and bring a post-petroleum era. The UK government has set out transition policies and strategies to adapt to and mitigate future environmental change and biorenewable carbon resources will play a significant role to meet UK 2050 greenhouse gas reduction targets and support national adaptation efforts. The current EU bioeconomy is estimated to be worth around 2 trillion euros and a wide range of bio-products generated from biomass resources bring great potential. Unlike other renewable sources e.g. tidal or wind energy, biomass provides flexible options to overcome supply instability and un-predictability by deriving thermal and electrical energy on demand and offering potential for transport fuel or bio-chemical generation. Resource assessment shows that the UK biomass could meet almost half of domestic energy needs by 2050 without compromising land use. Biomass-derived value-added chemicals also represent a significant market; with current annual turnover of £60 billion, the UK chemical sector is described as the 'heart of the green economy development'. Such plethora of bio-renewable products can be converted efficiently and sustainably via well-designed integrated biorefinery systems. However, human use of and impacts on the biosphere are now exceeding the multiple environmental limits. Thus the future biorenewable deployment calls for an quantitative transition modelling tool bringing resilience and sustainability thinking approach in biorenewable system design to increase the overall capacity for tackling environmental stresses or socio-economic changes over the coming decades. This project aims to develop an open-source biorenewable system model from user-perspectives and provide insights into sustainable design of the future biorenewable systems, which best adapt to and mitigate future changes, contribute to UK sustainability and resilience agenda and support bioeconomy evolution. Under ReSBio, seven research streams are organized in work packages (WP) that run in parallel. WP1 will engage policy-makers, industrial stakeholders, scientists and engineers to scope the model context and objectives under UK sustainability and resilience context and define the model functions, indicators, boundaries, and case studies from user perspectives. Building on WP1 model functional specifications, WP2 focuses on the open-source model development with the user-oriented architecture and integrating sustainability evaluation, biogeochemistry models and optimisation model. WP3 expands the WP2 work and highlights the biomass resource modelling and agro-ecosystem C/N cycle simulation by building empirical database and re-parameterising the plant growth sub-model. WP4 focuses on the environmental and economic performance evaluation of the promising technologies and the biorefinery system integration configurations. WP5 aims to explore strategic design of representative UK case studies over multiple time periods under future environmental changes and demographic and economic trends. WP6 will adapt and apply the developed model in representative overseas case studies which are of relevance to the UK. To ensure ReSBio impacts, WP7 is dedicated to research output synthesis and project dissemination. ReSBio will help to understand the research merit of biomass and conversion technologies for UK biorenewable value chains under future changes and identify the sustainable and resilient design for UK biorenewables systems over next decades. ReSBio will generate new insights into the biorenewable potential in future UK infrastructure transition strategies and bio-economy.

The current global fashion supply chain is characterised by its lack of transparency, forced labour, poor working conditions, unequal power relationships and overproduction caused by fast fashion. Lacking ethics, the global fashion supply chain is also highly polluting. The total footprint of clothing in use in the UK, including global and territorial emissions, was 26.2 million tonnes CO2 in 2016, up from 24 million tonnes in 2012 (equivalent to over a third of household transport emissions). The Textiles Circularity Centre (TCC) proposes materials security for the UK by circularising resource flows of textiles. This will stimulate innovation and economic growth in the UK textile manufacturing, SME apparel and creative technology sectors, whilst reducing reliance on imported and environmentally and ethically impactful materials, and diversifying supply chains. The TCC will provide underpinning research understanding to enable the transition to a more circular economy that supports the brand 'designed and made in the UK'. To enact this vision, we will catalyse growth in the fashion and textiles sector by supporting the SME fashion-apparel community with innovations in materials and product manufacturing, access to circular materials through supply chain design, and consumer experiences. Central to our approach is to enable consumers to be agents of change by engaging them in new cultures of consumption. We will effect a symbiosis between novel materials manufacturing and agentive consumer experiences through a supply chain design comprised of innovative business models and digital tools. Using lab-proven biotechnology, we will transform bio-based waste-derived feedstock (post-consumer textiles, crop residues, municipal solid waste) into renewable polymers, fibres and flexible textile materials, as part of a CE transition strategy to replace imported cotton, wood pulp and synthetic polyester fibres and petrochemical finishes. We will innovate advanced manufacturing techniques that link biorefining of organic waste, 3D weaving, robotics and additive manufacturing to circular design and produce flexible continuous textiles and three-dimensional textile forms for apparel products. These techniques will enable manufacturing hubs to be located on the high street or in local communities, and will support SME apparel brands and retailers to offer on-site/on-demand manufacture of products for local customisation. These hubs would generate regional cultural and social benefits through business and related skills development. We will design a transparent supply chain for these textiles through industrial symbiosis between waste management, farming, bio-refinery, textile production, SME apparel brands, and consumer stakeholders. Apparel brands will access this supply chain through our digital 'Biomaterials Platform', through which they can access the materials and data on their provenance, properties, circularity, and life cycle extension strategies. Working with SME apparel brands, we will develop an in-store Configurator and novel affective and creative technologies to engage consumers in digitally immersive experiences and services that amplify couplings between the resource flow, human well being and satisfaction, thus creating a new culture of consumption. This dematerialisation approach will necessitate innovation in business models that add value to the apparel, in order to counter overproduction and detachment. Consumers will become key nodes in the circular value chain, enabling responsible and personalised engagement. As a human-centred design led centre, TCC is uniquely placed to generate these innovations that will catalyse significant business and skills growth in UK textile manufacturing, SME fashion-apparel, and creative technology sectors, and drastically reduce waste and carbon emissions, and environmental and ethical impacts for the textiles sector.