How COVID-19 will affect the development of synthetic biology?

1.     The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed life-threatening gaps in our ability to conduct the widespread community testing needed to mount an effective public health response. Companies, universities, and investors have taken the initiative to form new partnerships that are not only helping us overcome this pandemic, but may also become an enduring ecosystem capable of bringing unprecedented diagnostics to the health care market in days, not years. Like the rest of the world, the synthetic biology industry is undergoing a pivot during this unprecedented time. If there’s a silver lining to the pandemic, it’s pushing us all to change how we do things—and that’s for the best, because normal wasn’t good enough. Supply chains and biomanufacturing to climate change and science policies to the changing workforce and building a more equitable, sustainable economy.

2.     The next 12 months will see a global stimulus investment in technology and the global bioeconomy. More widespread community testing of the new coronavirus is needed to mount an effective public health response. Diagnostic testing and surveillance are critical, complementary strategies to combat pathogen outbreaks such as COVID-19. Sequencing-based surveillance helps public health officials track the path of the epidemic, understand transmission routes, determine the rate of viral evolution, and understand if the virus is changing in ways that impact therapeutic effectiveness. Since the COVID-19 virus outbreak in December 2019, the disease has spread to almost every country around the globe with the World Health Organization declaring it a public health emergency. The global impacts of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are already starting to be felt, and will significantly affect the Synthetic Biology Platforms market in 2020.

3.     Synthetic biology is an interdisciplinary field that aims at the fabrication and redesigning of biological systems and components that do not exist in the natural world. This domain basically focuses on the application of engineering principles to biology. Many private and government organizations such as National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), National Science Foundation (NSF), Synthetic Biology Engineering Research Center (SynBERC), International Association Synthetic Biology (IASB), and Centre for Chemical and Synthetic Biology (CCSB) are increasingly launching various initiatives for promoting research and development (R&D) activities in basic and applied research.

4.     In addition to this, these organizations are also making huge investments in R&D activities in synthetic biology. Apart from the huge investments being made in the synthetic biology domain, the soaring geriatric population and advanced and innovative applications of synthetic biology are also fueling the advancement of this industry across the globe. Furthermore, the surging investments being in R&D activities for drug discovery and production are boosting the adoption of synthetic biology technologies and tools.

5.     Pharmaceutical and diagnostic, chemical, agriculture, research and development (R&D), and energy sectors are the major application areas of synthetic biology tools and technologies. Out of these, the adoption of these solutions was observed to be the highest in various pharmaceutical and diagnostic applications during the last few years. Further, the integration of synthetic biology technologies will increase rapidly in pharmaceutical and diagnostic processes in the upcoming years. However, the adoption of these solutions will increase at the fastest rate in the energy sector over the next several years.