IMAGINE A TIME WHEN FRUIT IS GROWN INDOORS, year round, just beneath the grocery store that sells it; when genetic diseases like sickle cell anemia and muscular dystrophy can be prevented before birth; and when dieting is unnecessary, because a biometric test can indicate which foods you should eat and which to avoid. The foundation for all of these alternate realities already exists. In fact, some of these innovations are already moving from the fringe to the mainstream.
Every day, innovators are learning more about how to manipulate molecules, engineer microorganisms and build biocomputing systems, marking the start of a new era in our civilization’s evolution: the Biological Age. What we build during this new age will unlock new business opportunities, mitigate or even reverse environmental damage and improve the human condition in countless ways. In this article we will provide a glimpse into what lies ahead by describing three areas where bioinnovations will likely create the most value: medicine, the global food supply and the environment.
Medicine: A Look Ahead
In the next two decades, synthetic biology technologies will be harnessed to eradicate life-threatening disease and to develop personalized medicines for individuals and their specific genetic circumstances. Following are two key areas where this will unfold.
It would be difficult to develop a single, universal vaccine for cancer, since it isn’t a single disease but rather a catch-all term for a constellation of more than a hundred known genetic mutations. Perhaps that’s why we tend to name cancers by location rather than mutation: lung cancer,
