Design-Build-Test-Learn: NCERC helps biochemical designers go beyond the bench
Posted June 30, 2021
By Jackie Pohlman, Director of Business Development & Client Relations
June 2021
NCERC’s versatile fermentation capabilities make it an ideal partner for researchers developing novel synthetic strains with hopes to commercialize in the biochemical market. Not only does the facility house bioreactors with capacities in sequential increments that allow fermentations to go beyond the bench (5L-30L-150L-1500L-22,000L), NCERC also has an experienced staff with expertise in product scale up and validation. These two benefits are key for biochemical designers who partner with NCERC to de-risk and efficiently scale up, limiting the amount of money and time that it traditionally takes to commercialize.
The Design-Build-Test-Learn (DBTL) cycle is an engineering principle that provides a framework to systemize strain engineering and is biochemical-independent, meaning that all biobased chemical designers can use the DBTL cycle and avoid the R&D bottleneck that has limited biochemicals from commercial success in the past. Pioneers in the biochemical space have spent hundreds of person-years of effort to bring a biochemical to market. The DBTL cycle allows researchers to reassess before taking the next step in scale up, and then perform the cycle again until primed for commercialization, making the R&D phase more efficient and less time-intensive.
“The Design component identifies the problem, selects the desired pathway and host; the Build component selects, synthesizes, and assembles parts for incorporation into the host; the Test component validates the engineered strains for target molecule production, transcripts, proteins, and metabolites; the Learn component analyzes the Test data and informs subsequent iterations of the cycle.”
Petzold, Christopher & Chan, Leanne-Jade & Nhan, Melissa & Adams, Paul. (2015). Analytics for Metabolic Engineering. Frontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology. 3. 135. 10.3389/fbioe.2015.00135.
While no bioreactions take place in NCERC’s Analytical Laboratory, one could argue that it is the most important asset utilized by NCERC’s clients. It supports all of NCERC’s research labs and provides our clients with high quality analytical data, arming them with the information they need to reassess or take the next step in the DBTL cycle. Much of what NCERC’s team does is genuine R&D, which means that the results are not always what we or our clients expect. Regardless of the result, this progress is important.
Because of this, NCERC has implemented top level laboratory practices into all the work we do. Data acquisition is clearly and timely documented in both hard copy and electronic forms, and every standard operation procedure is executed with data harvesting based on scientifically sound Quality Assurance/Quality Control. As NCERC’s Director of Research Dr. Yan Zhang says, “we let the data do the talking.”
De-risking and accelerating the success of biotechnologies is at the heart of what NCERC does and positions the Center to be the perfect partner for researchers using the DBTL cycle to scale up.
