Biodesign (Almost) Anything in 2025

Synbio learning, job market snapshots, growing meat on vegetables, and more!

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Hello Biodesign Community,

Time goes fast, we are now already halfway through January 2025! Welcome to the very first edition of our newsletter for 2025. And we’re still eager to continue bringing you the latest updates, insights, and opportunities from the world of biodesign.

In brief:

Discover How to Grow (Almost) Anything in 2025

Exciting news for the biodesign community! Applications are now open for the 2025 edition of How to Grow (Almost) Anything (#HTGAA), one of the most innovative synthetic biology courses out there. Offered by the MIT Media Lab, this course connects global learners with cutting-edge bioengineering concepts, skills, and projects.

Whether you're an MIT or Harvard student attending in person, or joining virtually from anywhere in the world, this course is a great opportunity to learn from leading experts and build your network in synthetic biology.

How to Grow (Almost) Anything is led by:

Dr. David Kong, Director of the Community Biotechnology Initiative, MIT Media Lab; George Church, Professor of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, and Joseph Jacobson, Professor, MIT Media Lab

Topics include:

  • DNA Reading, Writing & Editing

  • Protein Design

  • BioProduction

  • Cell-Free Systems

  • Microbiome Science & Engineering

  • Microfluidics & Frugal Science

  • Lab Automation

  • Biodesign and Biofabrication

  • Advanced Imaging Techniques

For those with no or limited wet lab experience, you can join a virtual Bio Bootcamp held the week of Jan 20 (3 sessions). Indicate your interest in the application form.

If you’re passionate about the intersection of science, design, and engineering, this is your chance to grow your skills, your network, and perhaps even new ideas for your projects.

Applications are open now (until 20th January 2025) —don’t miss out! Learn more and apply via this link.

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2024 Biodesign Job Market Analysis

The 2024 biodesign job market activities gave insights into the industry's growth and opportunities. The team at Biodesign Jobs analyzed hundreds of job posts to uncover key trends shaping the field. Here’s what they found:

🏢 Companies who hired the most:

💼 Top job categories

  1. Research

  2. Engineering

  3. Marketing

  4. Operations

  5. Design

🗺 Top countries for hiring

  1. US

  2. UK

  3. Germany

  4. Netherlands

  5. Canada

🏙️ Top cities for biodesign

  1. London, UK

  2. Peoria, US

  3. NYC, US

  4. Boston, US

  5. Cambridge, UK

👀 Looking Ahead to 2025

As biodesign field continues to expand, we anticipate growth in areas like biomaterial innovation, regenerative design, and circular economies. New cities and countries may emerge as leaders in this space, bringing fresh opportunities to the forefront.

Stay updated by following Biodesign Jobs: Their website and newsletter offer exclusive updates on job openings in biodesign.

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🌱 Join the Biodesign Challenge (BDC) Discord Community!

In case you missed it, the Biodesign Challenge (BDC) recently launched a Discord server designed to unite the global biodesign community. This inclusive, real-time platform fosters collaboration, idea-sharing, and meaningful conversations at the intersection of biotechnology, art, and design.

Whether you're a seasoned professional or new to biodesign, this space is invaluable for:

✨ Sharing links to cutting-edge research, resources, and opportunities.

🗨️ Engaging in casual conversations or in-depth debates.

🛠️ Finding technical support from the collective expertise of the community.

🧐 Participating in critical discourse to push the field forward.

Don’t miss out! Sign up for the Discord today and become part of a growing network of innovators, from material scientists to philosophers, policymakers to furniture designers.

Already a member? Help make this community thrive:

Share your insights, ideas, and favorite resources. Engage with other members—ask questions, join discussions, and contribute to debates. Amplify the biodesign conversation by inviting friends, colleagues, and collaborators to join.

👉 Join the Biodesign Challenge Discord here

🦠Calling Early-Stage Bioinnovators: Showcase Your Work with Biofabricate

Are you working on a cutting-edge bioinnovation project? Now’s your chance to shine! Biofabricate is inviting early-stage bioinnovators to submit their projects for the Next Gen Showcase, connecting you with the foremost community of bio pioneers.

This is a fantastic opportunity to: ✨ Spotlight your innovations in biodesign, biomaterials, and biofabrication. 🌐 Build connections within the global bio community. 🌟 Gain visibility and recognition for your groundbreaking work.

Submit Your Project Simply use the form provided by Biofabricate to submit your project for consideration. Don’t miss the chance to have your work reviewed by industry leaders and enthusiasts alike.

👉 Submit your project here

Be part of shaping the future of bioinnovation!

📙Publication Highlight

Growing meat on autoclaved vegetables with biomimetic stiffness and micro-patterns

Liu, Y., Gao, A., Wang, T. et al., Nature Communications 16, 161 (2025).

Cultured meat needs edible bio-scaffolds that provide not only a growth milieu for muscle and adipose cells, but also biomimetic stiffness and tissue-sculpting topography. Current meat-engineering technologies struggle to achieve scalable cell production, efficient cell differentiation, and tissue maturation in one single culture system. Here we propose an autoclaving strategy to transform common vegetables into muscle- and adipose-engineering scaffolds, without undergoing conventional plant decellularization. We selected vegetables with natural anisotropic and isotropic topology mimicking muscle and adipose microstructures respectively. We further adjusted vegetable stiffness by autoclaving, to emulate the mechanical properties of animal tissues. Autoclaved vegetables preserve rich cell-affinitive moieties, yielding a good cell culture effect with simplified processing. Autoclaved Chinese chive and Shiitake mushroom with anisotropic micro-patterns support the scalable expansion of muscle cells, improved cell alignment and myogenesis. Autoclaved isotropic loofah encourages adipocyte proliferation and lipid accumulation. Our engineered muscle- and fat-on-vegetables can further construct meat stuffing or layered meat chips. Autoclaved vegetables possess tissue-mimicking stiffness and topology, and bring biochemical benefits, operational ease, cost reduction and bioreactor compatibility. Without needing decellularization, these natural biomaterials may see scale-up applications in meat analog bio-fabrication.

👉🏼 Read the full article here.

Until next time, let’s keep shaping the future of biodesign—one idea, one connection, and one innovation at a time.

Biodesign Academy