Zymergen, partners get Defense grant for biomanufacturing institute

The synthetic biology firm Zymergen and dozens of partners, including Cargill, BASF, DSM, and LanzaTech, have been awarded a 7-year, $87.5 million grant from the US Department of Defense to establish the Bioindustrial Manufacturing and Design Ecosystem in support of biomanufacturing innovation and workforce training. Additional private funding will total about $180 million. Producing fuels, solvents, and plastics using biology rather than crude oil is critical to national security, the Defense Department says. The institute will be headquartered at the St. Paul campus of the University of Minnesota.