Bridging the gap between laboratory discoveries and industrial-scale biomanufacturing remains one of the major challenges in modern biotechnology. Successful commercialization requires engineering high-performing microbial strains and integrating considerations such as fermentation scale-up, downstream processing, and economic feasibility from the earliest stages of research and development.

To address this challenge, Prof. WANG Shi'an from the Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology (QIBEBT) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and his collaborators from Beijing University of Chemical Technology and the Guangdong Technion-Israel Institute of Technology have proposed a new development framework called Microbe-Specific and Product-Specific Strategies (MPSS).

Their work was published in Biotechnology Advances on August 1.

MPSS advocates moving beyond the conventional reliance on established model microorganisms and existing research platforms in biomanufacturing. Instead, MPSS emphasizes selecting the most suitable microbial host according to the characteristics of the target product and the intended manufacturing process. Considering host selection, product characteristics, and process requirements as an integrated system from the beginning improves the alignment between laboratory research and industrial application.

The researchers further integrated MPSS with the widely adopted Design–Build–Test–Learn (DBTL) cycle and the concept of holistic bioprocess design, establishing an end-to-end development strategy spanning the entire biomanufacturing pipeline.

In conventional microbial engineering, strain construction, fermentation optimization, and downstream processing are typically done sequentially. While this approach facilitates rapid proof-of-concept studies, critical manufacturing challenges may only emerge at later stages of development, increasing the risk of unsuccessful technology translation. In contrast, MPSS considers host-product-process compatibility from the earliest stages of project design. The DBTL cycle iteratively optimizes microbial strains and metabolic pathways. Holistic bioprocess design simultaneously evaluates fermentation performance, process scale-up, downstream purification, manufacturing costs, and process robustness.

Together, these complementary approaches establish a continuous feedback framework that links biological engineering with process engineering, shifting biomanufacturing from optimizing individual biological components toward the co-design of scalable, manufacturable, and economically viable production systems.

Building upon this framework, the researchers proposed a new research discipline called Applied Microbial Population Biology (AMPB). Traditional microbial population biology has primarily focused on genetic diversity, evolutionary processes, and ecological interactions. AMPB extends these concepts toward industrial biotechnology by treating the naturally occurring genetic, phenotypic, and metabolic diversity within microbial populations as valuable resources for strain development.

Through a function-oriented exploration of microbial diversity and a population-scale characterization of phenotypes and metabolism under industrially relevant conditions, the AMPB program is expected to facilitate the discovery and development of microbial strains with superior productivity, enhanced robustness, and improved industrial adaptability. This emerging discipline may provide new theoretical foundations and technological approaches to reduce uncertainty during industrial scale-up and accelerate the development of next-generation microbial cell factories.

The introduction of MPSS and AMPB offers a fresh approach to a persistent challenge in industrial biotechnology: the gap between initial laboratory research and successful commercial implementation. By integrating biological design with engineering and manufacturing considerations from the outset of research projects, these concepts offer a systematic framework for enhancing the efficiency and success rate of technology translation.

The researchers note that widespread implementation of MPSS and the establishment of AMPB will require sustained interdisciplinary collaboration and continued validation through industrial practice. Looking ahead, the further integration of biological research, process engineering, and industrial application is expected to accelerate the commercialization of microbial biomanufacturing technologies and contribute to the development of a sustainable bioeconomy.

Figure 1. Conceptual framework of MPSS (Image by QIBEBT)

Figure 2. Complementary roles of MPSS, the DBTL cycle, and holistic bioprocess design in industrial biotechnology (Image by QIBEBT)

Figure 3. Conceptual framework of AMPB (Image by QIBEBT)