SynBio and Bio Convergence: Israeli Tech Transforming Global Innovation

Synthetic Biology

November 17, 2024

Israel is a small, highly interconnected, bold and innovative country. We run fast, think out of the box and show high flexibility that enables us to solve big and complicated challenges in unexpected time frames.

– Dr. Orly Savion

Synthetic biology, or SynBio, involves engineering life at the genetic level, enabling scientists to design organisms or biological systems for specific tasks, such as producing sustainable materials, biofuels, or innovative medicines. This groundbreaking field allows for unprecedented control over biological functions, opening pathways to address pressing global issues with engineered precision. Bio convergence takes this further by merging biology with fields like artificial intelligence, robotics, and nanotechnology, creating hybrid solutions that were previously unimaginable.

Together, SynBio and bio convergence are reshaping industries by providing sustainable, efficient, and customizable solutions to some of the world’s most complex challenges, from climate change to food security and health.

In a conversation with Alon Turkaspa, Climate & Agrifood Sector Lead at Startup Nation Central, Dr. Orly Savion, CEO of Alagene, discussed how synthetic biology is tackling critical challenges across industries and how Israel’s unique ability to leverage bold and determined innovation is having an impact. These technologies are not just future potential—they’re already making tangible changes today.

Why Israel?

Israel’s innovation ecosystem is uniquely suited to foster SynBio and bio convergence breakthroughs. The country’s renowned cross-disciplinary collaboration, entrepreneurial mindset, and culture of problem-solving are instrumental.

Israeli academia maintains close ties with the tech industry, accelerating the translation of scientific discoveries into commercial applications. With a deep-rooted emphasis on fields such as cybersecurity, AI, and medical technology, Israel’s innovation landscape enables rapid advancements in SynBio and bio convergence.

This interconnected ecosystem of startups, researchers, and industry leaders, creates an agile environment where innovation can thrive despite limited resources.

Can you explain what synthetic biology (SynBio) and bio convergence are, and how they are changing the landscape of innovation?

Synthetic biology is essentially engineering life at the genetic level, allowing us to design organisms or biological systems that can perform specific tasks—whether it’s producing sustainable materials, biofuels, or even new forms of medicine. Bio convergence, on the other hand, is the integration of biology with other technologies like AI, robotics, and nanotechnology.

Together, these fields are revolutionizing industries by providing tailored, efficient solutions that address complex global challenges, such as climate change, food security, and health.

Israel is known for its unique innovation ecosystem. What aspects of Israeli industry and academia make it an ideal hub for bio convergence and SynBio breakthroughs?

Israel’s innovation ecosystem thrives on cross-disciplinary collaboration, an entrepreneurial mindset, and a strong culture of problem-solving. Our academia is deeply connected to the tech industry, enabling rapid translation of scientific discoveries into commercial applications. The country’s emphasis on innovation in fields like cybersecurity, AI, biotech and medical technologies provides fertile ground for bio convergence and SynBio to flourish. The ability to connect startups, academic researchers, and industry leaders in such a compact and fast-paced environment is unique and gives Israel a distinct edge in this space.

Israel is a small, highly interconnected, bold and innovative country. We run fast, think out of the box and show high flexibility that enables us to solve big and complicated challenges in unexpected time frames.

In your opinion, how do SynBio and bio convergence intersect with high-tech sectors like climate, agrifood, health, materials, energy, especially in Israel’s tech-driven economy?

SynBio applies engineering principles to biology, enabling the design of new organisms or systems for specific tasks, such as producing biofuels, pharmaceuticals, and sustainable materials. It accelerates innovation across industries by offering modular, efficient solutions that enhance sustainability and cost-effectiveness in fields like healthcare, agriculture, and bio- manufacturing.

Bio convergence merges biology and SynBio with fields like computer science, robotics, nanotech, and materials science to create integrated solutions—such as precision medicine—that were previously unimaginable.

“Together, SynBio and bio convergence enable the development of multifunctional, hybrid technologies that address multiple global challenges.”

In Israel’s tech-driven economy, these fields are a natural fit. SynBio can boost agricultural and food resilience and sustainability, while applied with bio convergence it can give a range of solutions from predictive tools for precision farming, to new therapies, and advanced diagnostics. Israel’s strength in data science, computational biology, and engineering positions it to lead in these transformative sectors:

Climate: engineered microorganisms to capture and store carbon from the atmosphere, to combat climate change (e.g. converting CO₂ into bio-based materials like biodegradable plastics or biofuels). Microbes can also be used for biodegradation of pollutants in soil, air and water.

Agriculture: SynBio based microbes are used to improve, protect and enhance soil quality and crops yield in many ways. One example is soil health improvement by microbes that naturally fix nitrogen or provide necessary compounds, reducing the need for synthetic fertilizers. Microbes are also being used as biomanufacturers of bio-pesticides to substitute harmful chemicals usage.

Food: Microbial fermentation is revolutionizing food production. For example, precision fermentation uses genetically engineered microbes to produce lab-grown meat or alternative proteins, such as bio identical dairy proteins without cows, offering sustainable, ethical, and scalable food solutions.

Health: In healthcare, microbiome therapies are being developed using engineered bacteria to treat conditions like gut inflammation or metabolic disorders. Microorganisms are also used for advanced diagnostics and treatments of multiple applications. offering personalized solutions for complex health issues.

Materials: Microorganisms are engineered to produce bio-based materials, such as spider silk proteins or biodegradable plastics, offering sustainable alternatives to petroleum-based materials. These innovations can create new materials with innovative functionalities, ones that are extremely strong, lightweight, and also environmentally friendly.

Energy: Engineered microbes are used in biofuel production, converting waste products or agricultural biomass into renewable energy sources. For example, certain bacteria can produce ethanol or hydrogen, providing a cleaner alternative to fossil fuels for energy generation.

In summary, synthetic biology and bio convergence are catalyzing a revolution in innovation by combining biological insights with engineering and technology, allowing us to address complex problems with unprecedented precision and creativity. These fields are shaping the future by providing sustainable, efficient, and customized solutions across a wide array of industries.

Israel’s uniqueness, as a crossroad of multiple scientific aspects, academia-industry relations, and entrepreneurial characteristics, is perfectly suited to push the boundaries of SynBio and bio convergence across these sectors.

What role does Alagene play in the SynBio space, and how is your company contributing to solving real-world challenges?

At Alagene, we work at the intersection of biotechnology and synthetic biology, providing R&D services that support innovations across the biotech industry. We help companies develop new biomanufacturing processes, engineer microorganisms for specific applications, and create sustainable biological solutions to replace traditional, resource-intensive methods. Our work directly addresses real-world challenges like sustainable agriculture and food, clean energy & environmental remediation, pharmaceuticals, and many more, which are critical in today’s global landscape.

By merging biology with cutting-edge technologies top facilities and expertise, we create scalable, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly solutions, supporting focused results or end-to-end solutions that will include:

Microorganisms genetic optimization & strain engineering
Automated high throughput screening and bio-assay development
Precision fermentation process design & optimization for industrial application
Downstream process developing and optimization that will allow active ingredient purification in industry related methods

Alagene was created by the Israel Innovation Authority, Reichman University, and Hy Laboratories Ltd (Hylabs) – Israel’s leading developer, manufacturer and distributor of tools for detection and identification of microorganisms and molecular biology products.

The reason for founding Alagene as the first Israeli bio-foundry was to drive local and global innovation from concept to commercialization with speed and precision, even if the approach is unconventional. As such, our modular service model and open R&D approach enable us to create tailored, high-quality solutions that seamlessly adapt to the unique needs of diverse sectors.

What are the key innovations or technologies that Alagene is working on that make your approach to bio convergence unique and impactful?

At the core of our success lies our multidisciplinary approach, combining cutting-edge genomic tools, AI-driven bioinformatics, and precision engineering to develop pioneering biological solutions. This synergy allows us to tackle complex challenges across industries, ranging from sustainable manufacturing to advanced bioengineering. We engineer microbes to produce high-value chemicals and biomolecules in a sustainable way. Through this, we are opening new doors for several industries. Most of our project cannot be disclosed, but we can share that we are active in some of the fields below, among others:

Cultured Meat Industry Growth Factor Production

We have developed microbial systems to produce low-cost growth factors using fermentation, providing the cultured meat industry with scalable and cost-effective alternatives to traditional methods. This advancement has the potential to lower production costs and drive the market toward mass accessibility.

Alternative Carbon Utilization with the Power of Metabolic Engineering

Our team is engineering metabolic pathways in bacteria to enable the utilization of alternative carbon sources. This allows for innovative applications in bio-manufacturing, paving the way for more sustainable industrial solutions that reduce reliance on traditional feedstocks.

Protein Structure Analysis via Biofilm Inhibition

Using advanced protein structure analysis tools, we have modelled the impact of protein sequence changes on biofilm-inhibiting proteins under varying conditions like pH, salinity, and temperature. This knowledge helps us design proteins that remain stable and effective across different environments, boosting their functionality in real-world applications that can be related to environmental or health applications.

High-Throughput Screening

In our facility, we utilize high-throughput automated equipment to grow plant culture cells with optimized aeration and agitation, allowing us to screen hundreds of isolates simultaneously. This accelerates our discovery pipeline and leads to faster innovation in agricultural biotechnology.

Collaborative Strain Optimization

We collaborate with academic and industry partners to genetically optimize bacteria and yeast strains, significantly increasing recombinant protein expression and secretion. By screening thousands of variants in parallel, we can identify even the rarest of high-performing strains, dramatically improving efficiency.

Precision Fermentation

Our multi-chamber fermentation instruments enable us to conduct precision fermentation experiments in parallel. This approach reduces the time needed for achieving optimal fermentation conditions from over three months to just one week, vastly improving project turnaround times.

Streamlined Downstream Processing

Finally, our facility is fully equipped for downstream process developing, whether the goal is high purity or a more cost-effective, scalable solution. We work closely with our partners to design purification strategies that balance cost and quality, enabling the production of valuable compounds at an affordable price.

Looking beyond Israel, what are some of the most exciting advancements in SynBio globally, and how is Israel keeping pace with these developments?

Globally, we’re seeing breakthroughs in areas like gene editing and modifying technologies, including CRISPR, synthetic genomes, and biomanufacturing platforms. Companies and research institutions worldwide are pushing the limits of how we can program living systems to perform complex tasks.

Israel is keeping pace by fostering a strong startup ecosystem and maintaining collaborations with global SynBio leaders. Our local academic institutions are also pioneering research in areas like microbial engineering and protein design, ensuring that Israel remains competitive in the global SynBio landscape.

Can you share some examples of collaborations between Israeli academia and industry that have accelerated SynBio innovations?

Israeli academic-industry partnerships are setting the stage for advancements in precision medicine, eco-friendly materials, sustainable food production, and renewable energy. Together, they’re redefining what’s possible through synthetic biology, helping to address critical global challenges.

Israel’s SynBio ecosystem thrives with dynamic collaborations between academia and industry, often supported by government innovation funds, incubators, and accelerators that drive rapid innovation.

There are so many excellent examples from these collaborations from all sectors, several ones that comes to mind are:

Phytolon and the Weizmann Institute of Science (Prof. Asaph Aharoni’s lab) reinvented food color production by developing natural pigments through engineered microorganisms, reducing the need for artificial additives.
ImaginDairy partners with Tel Aviv University (Prof. Tamir Tuller’s lab) to produce dairy proteins without cows, using microbial fermentation to create dairy products with the same nutritional profile as traditional milk.
Aleph Farms originated from Technion – Israel Institute of Technology (Prof. Shulamit Levenberg’s lab), developing cultivated meat technology to grow steak from animal cells, aiming to make meat production sustainable and ethical.
Ecophage and The Weizmann Institute of Science (Prof. Rotem Sorek’s lab) advances phage technology to treat bacterial plant infectious diseases, targeting and destroying harmful bacteria in natural and sustainable settings.
BiomX uses similar technologies to produce bacteriophage-based therapies, selectively targeting harmful bacteria in conditions like inflammatory bowel disease, opening new avenues in microbiome therapeutics.
Scala Bio collaborates with Prof. Sarel Fleishman from The Weizmann Institute to provide a computational platform that increases the value and accelerate the development of proteins into commercial products.
MNDL Bio partners with Prof. Tamir Tuller’s lab at Tel Aviv University to advance strain engineering by integrating synthetic biology with computational modeling. This collaboration enhances microbial strain efficiency for industrial and pharmaceutical applications.
CollPlant and Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Prof. Oded Shoseyov’s lab) focus on bioengineered collagen, tissue regeneration and organ manufacturing, using recombinant human collagen.

We see Alagene as a facilitator and accelerator in these types of collaborations. Our main mission is to bridge the gap between research and industry by empowering startups and academic labs to bring groundbreaking SynBio concepts to life. We provide essential infrastructure and expertise to accelerate the journey from a concept to a fully realized product.

Our specialization in precision fermentation and downstream process development allows innovators to seamlessly transition from initial design to scaled production, validating early-stage products and supporting a smooth prototype-to-production process. By handling the complexities of bioengineering and production, we enable scientists to focus on refining their innovations, driving progress across biotechnology and sustainable industries.

Alagene is involved in a partnership with Startup Nation Central and the iGEM program. Can you tell us more about this partnership and why it is critical for advancing SynBio innovation?

“Our partnership with Startup Nation Central and the iGEM program is crucial because it bridges the gap between early-stage innovation and industry application. iGEM provides a platform for young researchers to explore new ideas in synthetic biology, and we support them by offering R&D expertise and resources.”

This collaboration fosters talent development, accelerates innovation, and brings fresh ideas into the market more quickly. It’s a way to nurture the next generation of SynBio innovators while addressing real-world challenges.

What are some of the greatest challenges facing SynBio and bio convergence today, and how can Israel’s innovation ecosystem help overcome them?

One of the biggest challenges is scaling SynBio solutions from lab to industry. While science is advancing rapidly, translating that into cost-effective, scalable processes can be difficult. Another challenge is regulatory frameworks, which need to evolve to keep pace with new technologies.

Israel’s innovation ecosystem, with its agility and strong support for startups, can help overcome these barriers. Our strong network of incubators, accelerators, and government support for tech innovation is key to ensuring that SynBio solutions can be commercialized effectively.

Looking ahead, what are the key trends or technologies in SynBio that you believe will shape the future, both in Israel and worldwide?

I believe advancements in gene editing, automation in synthetic biology workflows, and biomanufacturing will be the driving forces shaping the future. We’re likely to see a continued push towards sustainable production methods, such as bio-based chemicals and materials, which will reduce reliance on traditional fossil fuel-based industries.

In Israel, the focus will remain on integrating SynBio with data science and AI to accelerate research and commercialization. Globally, the rise of decentralized biomanufacturing and personalized medicine will also be significant trends in shaping the future.

Dr. Orly Savion is a biotechnology executive with a distinguished career leading R&D, strategy, and business development across multiple sectors. As CEO of Alagene, she advances the company’s mission to deliver innovative, end-to-end R&D solutions in biotechnology, with a strong focus on synthetic biology for a range of applications. Her previous roles include serving as CTO for a venture capital firm, where she oversaw deal-flow, technical diligence, and strategies to enhance value in food tech investments, and leading a biopesticides company, directing product development, business strategy, and funding.

As Sr. Director of Life Science Business Development at YEDA, the Weizmann Institute’s tech transfer company, Dr. Savion cultivated partnerships with leading pharma, agriculture, and food companies, facilitating collaborations with scientists, entrepreneurs, and incubators.

Dr. Savion holds a Ph.D. in Molecular Cell and Structural Biology, as well as an MSc and BSc in Biotechnology and Food Engineering.

Alon Turkaspa is an experienced leader in the AgriTech and FoodTech sectors, leveraging over 15 years in the high-tech ecosystem to drive innovation and sustainability.

As the Climate & Agrifood Tech Manager at Startup Nation Central, Alon plays a pivotal role in propelling Israeli startups onto the global stage. His expertise spans precision agriculture, food technology, and fostering collaborations between cutting-edge technology and market needs. Alon has previously held key roles in enterprise development and business strategy, further honing his ability to connect industry stakeholders. He is passionate about creating impactful solutions that shape the future of sustainable food and agriculture.