Living organisms function through the intricate programming of their genomes, proteomes, and metabolomes. With advancements in synthetic biology, we're now able to apply an engineering perspective to biological phenomena—designing, building, and testing biological parts and circuits. This breakthrough has been propelled by extensive genomic data and deeper phenotype understanding. Although its application has been somewhat niche, synthetic biology is quickly permeating various life science fields.

The emergence of private and public biofoundries, employing a contract manufacturing model to synthetic biology, plays a pivotal role in this expansion. South Korea is at the forefront, recognizing synthetic biology as a cornerstone of advanced biotechnology. This recognition is marked by the initiation of the National Biofoundry Construction, in alignment with the country's strategic technology goals.

This movement is inspired by the belief that the bio sector will become a primary innovation driver in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, mirroring the transformative impact of the internet (McKinsey, May 2020, "The Bio Revolution"). Synthetic biology promises to hasten the bio industry's digital transformation, paving the way for groundbreaking products and services. Its impact is anticipated to be profound, also in the green and white bio sectors.

Building synthetic biology capabilities is thus crucial for maintaining a competitive edge in the bio industry and fostering sustainable development. Such capabilities will expedite R&D processes and enable the delivery of tailor-made solutions. A proactive strategy is essential, including the proposal of a green bio workflow to the national biofoundry by 2029 and the enhancement of digital skills among researchers.

As we look to the next decade, leveraging synthetic biology and biofoundry to internalize digital capacities will be instrumental in nurturing growth within the bio industry, notably in the green bio sectors. This will lay the groundwork for a sustainable future.

As we feel and experience problems associated with various plastics, cleaning and recycling the waste plastics with non-hazardous and economically affordable methods are urgently demanded. Indeed, worldwide annual production of plastics amounts from 350 MT to 400 MT yearly. Among the various plastics produced, polyethylene and polypropylene represent about 92% of the synthetic plastics produced, which are mostly used in the production of plastic bags, disposable containers, bottles, packaging materials, etc.

Questions are “Can accumulated current information about microbial physiology and biochemistry for biodegradation mechanisms on from C1 compound methane to polymer lignin shed light on cleaning the plastic polymers?

There have been numerous articles for microbial biodegradation of plastic polymers. In microbial communities, however, they believe that plastics with oxygen-incorporated functional groups such as PET, polyurethane, etc, might be subjected to biodegradation but plastics without oxygen in the crystalline film plastic structure like low density and high density polyethylene, polypropylene, and polystyrene cannot be.

In the given time of the session, I want to share lessons learned from microbial oxidation processes to various compounds from methane to lignin to take challenge for cleaning plastic wastes through environmentally friendly methods.