Synthetic Biology: Realizing synthetic carbon dioxide fixation - Tobias Erb

Tobias Erb outlines the principles of building synthetic metabolism using, as an example, work in his lab to engineer bacteria to undergo synthetic carbon dioxide fixation.

Talk Overview:
The conversion of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) to biomass via photosynthesis is the foundation for all of our food and energy. Tobias Erb explains how his lab is working to design, build and optimize pathways for synthetic CO2 fixation. By combining enzymes from multiple organisms with “re-engineered” enzymes and optimizing the processes, Erb and his lab generated a synthetic cycle that fixes CO2 more energy efficiently than photosynthesis. In the future, they plan to test the system in artificial cells and to transplant it into bacteria and chloroplasts.  The video exemplifies the general rules and principles of building synthetic metabolism.

Speaker Biography:
Tobias Erb studied biology and chemistry at the University of Freiburg and Ohio State University. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Illinois before starting his own group at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, Switzerland.  In 2014, Erb moved to the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology in Marburg, Germany where he became Director and Head of the Department of Biochemistry and Synthetic Metabolism in 2017. Erb’s lab studies the principles of natural metabolism with the aim of using this knowledge to build, from basics, novel synthetic metabolic processes.  Erb is particularly interested in the enzymes and pathways of bacteria that capture and convert carbon dioxide.

In 2015, Erb was named one of 12 up-and-coming-scientists by the American Chemical Society and in 2016 he received the Heinz-Maier-Leibniz prize of the German Research Foundation.  

Learn more about Erb’s research here:

[jasperbutcher]

This has to be the absolute best video I've ever seen in my life. The picture of scientists sitting down, each writing their own little cycles and comparing them to see which one's the best, is exactly what I consider fun. Then, making this a reality by using libraries of discovered enzymes, followed by engineering them to work efficiently. and... you know... help solve a global crisis. One day, after my degrees, I will be a scientist which uses this type of enthusiasm to solve problems using interdisciplinary approaches, engaging in very much relevant research, and look back at this, and probably wonder what drugs I was on.


Also real smooth execution at 17:07, made me cry of laughter

[ca]

Thank you, Professor Tobias Erb, for your excellent lecture. It gave me a breakthrough in research thinking and will significantly help my future work.

[imaginationplayground]

What an incredible POC, will be following to see what comes of this

[anonviewerciv]

Better than plants. (7:55, 21:21)
15:15 Building a pathway.

[Cefity]

Why has this video been seen so little? Thesee technologies open the world for possibilities, possibilities that actually might just allow us to continue inhabiting mother earth.

[jakoblindh]

I am a few months from graduating an Engineering education in Biotechnology in Sweden and would really much want to work with this type of projects. Any suggestions on how to precede?

[danielnofal]

Amazing and very detailed explanation. YouTube is so great

[JasonFuller]

All of the advantages that you list for biological systems, such as 'self optimizing' are disadvatanges when trying to get biology to actually do any work as they will often reject your modifactatuon if they can find a way to survive without it.

[JasonFuller]

While the idea of synthetic CO2 fixation using ECRs is intreguing, it is still going to take energy to grow and incubate these cells. When you compair that to the energy needed to pump a fossil file out of the ground (nearly free), why would industry ever adopt the synthetic CO2 fixation process?

[ssaa]

I don't know how the system work. Actually you are spending more energy in the form of (NADPH/ATP) to just fix CO2. You are still heavily dependent on TCA cycle

[ronaldgarrison]

Thumb down for silly writing hand trick.

[ronaldgarrison]

Microphone creates a sound like dripping water. There must be some way to edit this out. Really annoying.