The 'Nature' of Innovation
Biotechnology has consumer applications beyond drugs — everything from construction and transportation materials to cosmetics and fabrics
Selective plant breeding has for many decades given scientists and commercial farmers the ability to solve problems and create new products such as seedless watermelons and sweet corn.
Today, advances in technology and biochemistry are helping solve some of the world’s biggest problems. From food shortages to growing energy prices — science is helping create more economically and environmentally sound bio-based products to meet customer demands such as Ford’s poly-cotton seat covers and Coca-Cola’s plant-based drink bottles.
According to the world’s largest biotechnology association, BIO, “many products consumers purchase and use on a daily basis are made from petroleum, natural gas or petrochemicals. The availability and affordability of these products contributes to improved standards of living for consumers in countries around the world.”
“Businesses across the board are trying to solve the issue of ‘good for the environment’ while balancing that with the cost and interest of a product for the consumer,” says Robert C. Richardson, director of business development at Lubrizol Advanced Materials, Inc. and a member of the Advisory Board for UNT’s BioDiscovery Institute. “Finding the solutions and the middle ground is definitely a collaboration between scientists and industry leaders.”
PLANTS MAKE IT BETTER
Industry leaders indicate that bioprocesses are inherently cleaner than petrochemical or thermochemical processes, producing fewer byproducts.
As leaders in plant science, UNT researchers are recognized internationally for their leading-edge research in the emerging technology area of bio-based products.
A world-renowned specialist in plant biochemistry, Distinguished Research Professor Richard Dixon, conducts research in numerous areas of plant secondary metabolism from basic research studies on enzymes and metabolic pathways to applied research.
"Our increased understanding of genetics, biology and chemistry is suggesting new ways to modify plants to make the kinds of products that will be necessary for a carbon-based, sustainable society,” says Dixon, who is director of UNT’s BioDiscovery Institute and who founded the Plant Biology Division at the Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation before coming to UNT.
SUPPORTING INDUSTRY USE
Industrial biotechnology includes biobased products, biobased technologies, green chemistry research and products.
In 2014, Dixon, along with UNT Research Professor Fang Chen and UNT Regents Professor of Engineering Nandika D’Souza created a new, stronger plant-based carbon fiber. The new carbon fiber is made from C-lignin, a linear polymer discovered by Chen and Dixon in 2012.
Lignin is the substance that makes plants firm, allowing them to stand upright. C-lignin is a lignin
derived from different building blocks that are found in high concentrations in the seed coats of plants, including vanilla orchids and many species of cactus.
Dixon indicates that C-lignin may be able to be converted and used for biorefining.
He also led UNT's effort in becoming one of three U.S. Department of Energy BioEnergy Science Centers in 2013. The center, headquartered at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, is a consortium of 300-plus scientists from 18 universities, industrial and private foundation partners producing the next generation of biofuels and bioproducts.
The center supports multidisciplinary, multi-institutional research supporting the fundamental scientific breakthroughs needed to produce biofuels and bioproducts from nonfood plant fiber.
“Our abilities to improve the capacity and yield of advanced sustainable bioproducts and biofuels is an important long term mission for the nation and indeed the world,” says Paul Gilna, director of the BioEnergy Science Center. “We are privileged to have Dixon and his staff as part of our team in this endeavor.”
Dixon says, "We are constantly pushing the boundaries of plant science at UNT and leading in the development of biobased technologies that provide significant environmental and economic benefit.”