Programmable Plants
Plants have paved the way for human existence and hold the key to solving some of our most pressing challenges, from food insecurity to environmental degradation. Programmable plants could secure our future on Earth, providing not just food, but a sustainable and thriving biosphere for future generations.
What if we could programme plants to remove more CO2, fight drought, and deliver medicines to those in need?
Defined by our Programme Directors (PDs), opportunity spaces are areas we believe are likely to yield breakthroughs.
In Programmable Plants, we are harnessing advances in gene editing technologies and synthetic biology to transform our ability to address food insecurity and environmental degradation by allowing us to predictably and efficiently build new plants.
Beliefs
The core beliefs that underpin this opportunity space:
Today’s agricultural system is struggling to address the twin challenges of an unsustainable food supply and an unstable climate → we need a paradigm shift to accelerate agricultural innovation.
Plants represent 80% of Earth’s biomass and are rapidly, cost-effectively and widely distributed across our planet → plants represent an ideal technological platform to provide low-cost, sustainable resources at scale.
Advances in gene editing and genetic modification are revolutionising our ability to tailor the traits of organisms → we can predictably and efficiently develop new plants to provide all of society with abundant and sustainable resources: food, fuel, medicine, shelter, and beyond.
Programme: Synthetic Plants
To build a programme within an opportunity space, our Programme Directors direct the review, selection, and funding of a portfolio of projects.
Backed by £62.4m, this programme aims to unite expertise in synthetic biology and plant biology to catalyse a new generation of major crops that are more productive, resilient, and sustainable.