Synthetic Biology and Bioprocess Engineering for High-Value Compounds

Dear Colleagues,

High-value compounds such as fuels, chemicals, and materials are the backbone of our modern industry and economy. Ironically, as these compounds are primarily sourced from fossil fuels, their manufacturing, transportation, and consumption have mainly contributed to the unprecedented rise in the global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, resulting in the current climate crisis of global warming and climate change. Thus, decarbonizing the commodity chemical sector is the key to tackling the menacing climate emergency in order to achieve a sustainable, carbon-neutral, or carbon-negative Net-Zero future. The versatility and ingenuity of bioprocesses can play a pivotal role in decarbonizing and transforming the unsustainable commodity chemical sector into a sustainable one. Engineered microbial cell factories or chassis strains can be the main vectors of this transformation, with the potential to produce petro-commodities at scale. In addition, cell-free synthesis systems have gained considerable attention from bioprocess engineers recently due to their relative ease of use without requiring extensive and complicated genetic manipulation of cell-based systems. With the advent of state-of-the-art synthetic biology and metabolic engineering technologies, as well as computational cheminformatics and machine learning tools, it is now possible to produce virtually any commodity using engineered cell factories or cell-free synthesis systems. These systems can use GHGs and other renewable resources, including lignocellulosic biomass, industrial waste gases, and municipal solid waste as raw materials to produce high-value compounds.

This Special Issue aims to assemble and publish a collection of high-quality research articles and review papers on synthetic biology and bioprocess engineering efforts to produce bio-based commodities and healthcare products using both engineered microbial cell factories and cell-free synthesis systems. For review papers, it is advisable to contact the Editor to discuss topic relevance before submitting the manuscript.

Dr. M. Ahsanul Islam
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Bioengineering is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.