
Biomanufacturing
Biomanufacturing Solutions for National Security
Biomanufacturing—the use of microbial organisms to make useful materials and molecules—can help solve important national security challenges facing the United States, including making supply chains more secure, strengthening the defense industrial base, and producing materials for warfighters wherever and whenever they need them.
Researchers at APL are combining their technical expertise, creativity, and national security acumen to put biomanufacturing to work, developing tangible solutions to solve these national challenges.
Expertise in Action

Creating Critical Resources in the Field
APL is studying polyhydroxyalkanoates, or PHAs—naturally occurring, biodegradable polymers that many microorganisms naturally make as an energy reserve—as the basis for generating 3D-printable materials on-site from locally sourced materials. Depending on what they’re fed, the microorganisms will produce plastics with slightly different properties, from brittle to flexible, raising the possibility that PHA-based materials could be tailored for a variety of applications.

Developing Bio-Enabled Materials and Equipment
APL researchers are enhancing the capabilities of solid-state devices, such as cameras and sensors, by incorporating lifelike properties into them. Using only biological parts, they are developing a miniaturized thermal-sensing platform that generates its own power using a light-driven proton pump, similar to those found in our own retinas. It senses heat signatures using snake-derived, heat-triggered receptors, and it converts those signatures into a downstream detectable output—all within a small, fatty capsule.

Creating Food From Thin Air
APL researchers are leveraging advances in carbon dioxide capture, chemical engineering, and synthetic biology to produce nutritionally complete and tasty foods—on demand, in the field. The group is using electricity to capture water, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and trace minerals from the air and then producing a rich, glucose-based material (called feedstock) on which to grow microbial food products.
Meet Our Experts

Katy Carneal Assistant Program Manager, Biological and Chemical Sciences
Learn more about Katy Carneal
Thomas Lawton Senior Staff Scientist
Learn more about Thomas LawtonFor media inquiries, please contact the APL Public Affairs office.
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