The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has joined BioMADE, a national institute focused on advancing manufacturing using biological systems in the United States, strengthening connections between ORNL research, industry needs and pathways to commercial-scale production of new chemicals and materials.
ORNL brings capabilities spanning from development of plant-based raw materials and customized microbes to materials development and production scale-up. Through major DOE programs, including the Center for Bioenergy Innovation , scale-up research for the Agile BioFoundry and analysis of materials and production processes in the Manufacturing Science Division , ORNL is helping advance new approaches for a successful bioeconomy using domestic resources.
By joining BioMADE , ORNL will build on its existing focus on scalable research, strengthening connections to pilot validation and commercialization while helping BioMADE members address complex challenges across the bioindustrial value chain.
“ORNL’s membership in BioMADE creates a powerful connection between discovery and deployment,” said Jesse Labbé, director of ORNL’s Biosciences Division. “By combining ORNL’s capabilities in biology, computing, materials and manufacturing with BioMADE’s national member network and growing pilot- and demonstration-scale facilities, we can help move promising technologies toward products made in America.”
“BioMADE is designed to bring together the partners and capabilities needed to accelerate U.S. biomanufacturing,” said Laura Vitko, director of strategic partnerships at BioMADE. “ORNL adds a valuable link to expertise across the Department of Energy national laboratory pipeline, and we look forward to working together to advance promising technologies, address scale-up challenges and strengthen domestic biomanufacturing.”
“Bioindustrial scale-up is not solely a biology challenge,” said Kate Evans, associate laboratory director for Biological and Environmental Systems Science at ORNL. “It is an integrated systems challenge that requires expertise across disciplines — an approach that is a hallmark of the national laboratory model.”
Moving a promising idea from the lab to the factory floor requires deep expertise in organisms from microbes to plants, process development, data analytics and modeling, materials performance, feedstock logistics and manufacturing systems, including robotics, automation and digital tools. ORNL’s multidisciplinary teams can model and optimize bioprocesses, characterize enzymes and biomaterials and evaluate bioderived materials for use in polymers, composites and additive manufacturing applications.
DOE’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at ORNL adds nationally recognized capabilities in advanced materials, additive and composite manufacturing, machining, robotics, digital manufacturing, materials testing and industry-scale technology demonstration.
From lab to production line
“Biology can give us remarkable building blocks, but manufacturing science determines whether they can become consistent, cost-effective products,” said Soydan Ozcan, group leader of Sustainable Manufacturing Technologies at ORNL. “At the MDF, we can bring scientists together to address processing and scale-up requirements early, when they can have the greatest influence on a technology’s path to market.”
“ORNL’s strength is its ability to carry an innovation across scientific boundaries and scales,” said Robert Wagner, ORNL associate laboratory director for Energy Science and Technology. “BioMADE connects that breadth of expertise with a national network focused on building stronger domestic manufacturing capabilities.”
Membership in BioMADE gives ORNL researchers more direct access to industry needs, pathways to build relationships with a network of more than 275 BioMADE member organizations, and opportunities to connect to BioMADE’s programs, services and a network of pilot- and demonstration-scale facilities. That connection can help researchers incorporate scale-relevant requirements earlier, build stronger industry teams and create clearer paths for technologies ready for further development, licensing or adoption.
For U.S. manufacturers, partnership opportunities with ORNL can expand access to expertise and technical resources that are often difficult for individual companies to assemble on their own. For the workforce, it creates new prospects to connect ORNL’s education and training activities with national efforts to prepare scientific, engineering and technical professionals for careers in bioindustrial manufacturing.
ORNL’s membership also supports national goals to strengthen domestic production of strategically important chemicals and materials, creates new value from American biomass and agricultural resources, and builds more secure and resilient supply chains.
“Advancing a robust biobased economy is both an economic competitiveness opportunity and a national security imperative,” Evans said.
BioMADE is a Manufacturing Innovation Institute sponsored by the U.S. Dept. of War. It is also a member of Manufacturing USA®, a national network created to secure U.S. global leadership in advanced manufacturing through large-scale public-private collaboration on technology, supply chain, education and workforce development.
UT-Battelle manages Oak Ridge National Laboratory for DOE's Office of Science, the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States. The Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit energy.gov/science .