Work

Challenges and opportunities for establishing biofoundries in Latin America

Year: 2025

Type: review

Abstract: Biofoundries are transforming biotechnology by automating design–build–test–learn (DBTL) cycles that accelerate biological design and innovation. While globally recognized as strategic infrastructures for the bioeconomy, they remain underrepresented in Latin America. This perspective highlights opportunities and challenges for establishing biofoundries across the region, emphasizing the need for open-access infrastructures, interdisciplinary networks, sustainability-assisted developments, and regulatory convergence. We discuss the advancement of integrated biofoundry models that combine multi-omics and synthetic biology approaches with sustainability assessments and bioprocess scale-up capabilities. This integrative framework, spanning from bioprospection to bioprocess scale-up, offers a key strategy to bridge biodiversity and industrial innovation, serving as a potential blueprint for expanding biofoundry initiatives across Latin America. Harnessing the regional biodiversity, scientific capacity, and growing innovation networks can establish a collaborative, sustainable biofoundry landscape capable of converting biological resources into high-value biotechnological solutions to address global challenges. • Biofoundries exhibit diverse configurations and purposes beyond DBTL acceleration. • Setups linking bioprospection, LCA/TEA and scale-up accelerate technology maturation. • Latin America biodiversity and non-food biomass fuel biomanufacturing innovation. • Open-access infrastructures and networks are vital to regional outreach. • Biosafety regulations rooted in cutting-edge science support biofoundry expansion.

Source: Current Opinion in Biotechnology

DOI: 10.1016/j.copbio.2025.103419