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GM CROPS. " Genetically modified crops have been used for commercial production since the 1990s and today, 29 countries are growing GM crops on a total of 160 million hectares according to ISAAA. And, that number is growing very rapidly."" " http://lnkd.in/cFaBdc View in LinkedIn

ETHANOL POLICY. "In the past six years, since U.S. ethanol mandate became law, 123 million new acres around the world have gone into production. Most of those acres were in China, India, Africa, and South America. This is one of the ripple effects of the new demand and consequent higher prices created by biofuels policies." 40% of corn goes into ethanol, 20% for animal feed, and 13% exported. The rest is for food (and drink). " "" " http://lnkd.in/cFaBdc View in LinkedIn

SYNBIO: great article by my friend Eric Hoffman, “Food Made from Scratch”, Monsanto has joined with Sapphire Energy in an algae venture... J. Craig Venter has formed a new company, Agradis, which will use synthetic biology to create higher-yielding castor and sweet sorghum for biofuels, among other things...researchers at the Department of Energy’s NREL will be able to improve the efficiency of photosynthesis, using amino acid building blocks to build plants from scratch."" " http://lnkd.in/cFaBdc View in LinkedIn

BIOLOGY IS TECHNOLOGY. "Julie Gould said that the new phrase which is catching on is “biology is technology”. In a period of ten weeks (a team) created a bacteria, Auxin...useful in solving desertification. They engineered E coli bacteria to contain sets of genes with growth hormone and also with malate, a root detector. The bacteria were able to swim towards roots, become absorbed by the roots, and then release hormones to stimulate growth."" " http://lnkd.in/cFaBdc View in LinkedIn

AG SYNBIO's potential. "the ability to raise crops using fewer pesticides; an offer of greater food security; improved nutrition; livestock which produce medications or biological substances such as spider-silk; an optimal source of biofuel; new ways to target infectious diseases and cancer, develop vaccines and cell therapies, enable regenerative medicine, or make cancer cells self-destruct. The potential seems limitless."" " http://lnkd.in/cFaBdc View in LinkedIn

GARAGE-BASED INNOVATORS, Obama salutes SMEs: "garage biology is good and necessary for the future physical and economic security of the United States.” This position acknowledges the historical analysis that because entrepreneurs and small organizations – i.e. “garages” – have been critical drivers of diverse technological innovation in the U.S. for several centuries, so are garages likely to be critical for future innovation in biotechnology."" " http://lnkd.in/cFaBdc View in LinkedIn

MIT'S TOM KNIGHT, a godfather of Synbio: "But stand back--this is the technology of the century. This is going to change how we build things. Biology is fundamentally a manufacturing technology, and we’re on the verge of figuring out how to control that. It's impossible to predict and estimate the impact of that, but it’s going to be massive."" " http://lnkd.in/ZkiS4Z View in LinkedIn

SYNBIO BIZ. "In 2010, U.S. revenues from genetically modified systems reached over $300 billion, or > 2% of GDP: genetically modified drugs (i.e., “biologics”) at $75 billion; genetically modified seeds and crops at $110 billion; and industrial biotechnology (e.g., fuels, materials, and enzymes) at $115 billion; China and Malaysia may each have biotech revenues in excess of 2.5% of GDP, and both plan to double by 2020."" " http://lnkd.in/cFaBdc. View in LinkedIn

FUN BACTERIAL SYNBIO project using gene knock-out fluorescent E. Coli that had a gene insertions that won a student competition. "This system allows a lawn of bacteria to function as a biological film, such that when a projection of a specific image of light is shone on the bacteria, a highly detailed image is produced. The sheer number of bacteria in one square inch of a petri plate creates an incredible resolution for photography as well as animation."" " http://lnkd.in/TAAZaP View in LinkedIn

SYNBIO applications include:" "1. " bioenergy: biofuels, electricity, hydrogen...." "2. agriculture and food production: engineered crops, pest control, fertilizers..." "3. environmental protection and remediation: restoration..." "4. consumer products: computers, sporting goods, cosmetics..." "5. chemical production: industrial compounds, high-value compounds, plastics, chemical synthesis..." "6. human health: medical drugs and devices, over-the-counter medicine, clinical therapies..."" " http://lnkd.in/cFaBdc View in LinkedIn