Distributed Biological Foundries for Global Health

Historically, many industries such as manufacturing have undergone a trend away from centralized, large‐scale production toward a more distributed form. Currently, this same trend is witnessed in biological manufacturing and bioprocessing, with the rise of biological foundries where one can synthesi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Advanced healthcare materials 2019-09, Vol.8 (18), p.e1900184-n/a
Main Authors: Gomez‐Marquez, Jose, Hamad‐Schifferli, Kimberly
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accessibility
biofabrication
biological foundry
Biological products
Biomedical materials
Bioprocessing
Current distribution
democratized life sciences
distributed manufacturing
Foundries
Global health
Historical account
Manufacturing
Reagents
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Summary:Historically, many industries such as manufacturing have undergone a trend away from centralized, large‐scale production toward a more distributed form. Currently, this same trend is witnessed in biological manufacturing and bioprocessing, with the rise of biological foundries where one can synthesize, grow, isolate, and purify a broad range of biologics. The adoption of distributed practices for biological processing has significant implications for healthcare, diagnostics, and therapies. This essay discusses the many diverse factors that have facilitated this growth, ranging from the establishment of available biological components, or “parts,” low‐cost programmable hardware, and others. Currently existing examples of distributed biological foundries are also identified, separating the discussion into those that are accessible only by elite users and the more recent emerging foundries that are more accessible to the general population. Taking lessons from other fields, it is argued that this trend toward distributed biological manufacturing is inevitable, so adapting to this trend is important for the progress of creating new therapeutics, sensors, diagnostics, and reagents for biomedical applications. Distributed practices for biological processing have significant implications for healthcare. Technological and intangible factors drive its growth as well as the creation of access barriers. Emerging examples distributed biological foundries openly accessible across borders are identified. Using lessons from crossover fields, adapting to this trend requires a delicate departure from tradition, driving the creation of new therapeutics, diagnostics, and reagents.
ISSN:2192-2640
2192-2659
DOI:10.1002/adhm.201900184