The NIST Biofoundry: Taking Engineering Biology From Artisanal to Automated

Two researchers program the robotic arm that operates within the boxlike structure of the NIST biofoundry.

All over the world, people are engineering biological systems to solve problems. Some want to find environmentally sustainable ways to mimic natural resources. Some want to build new kinds of medical treatments for deadly diseases. Others want to grow more productive crops. The promise of such work is enormous.

But when physicist David Ross thinks of these things, he thinks a lot about primitive people busting rocks to make tools.

“That’s pretty much where we are now with engineering biology. The way we engineer these kinds of systems is really like building a stone wall with found stone,” he says. “But what we want to be able to do is enable the building of the Roman aqueduct, which requires precise measurement and precise cutting and shaping of the stone.”