Fair to say that, hands-down, the most interesting bioconversion engines ever assembled were crowd-sourced, if you will, via evolution — and they reside inside plants (aquatic and terrestrial). There appears to be no end to the metabolic pathways they contain. And, despite millions of years of frenetic evolution, as Sinatra sang it in 1964 with Count Basie, “the best is yet to come”.
Proof positive on the “best is yet to come” — check out the Danforth Plant Science Center. It’s tucked away in the major agri-complex that built up around Monsanto and others in the St. Louis metro area. News of the establishment of an intriguing commercialization accelerator this week gives The Digest an opportunity to showcase 6 of the hottest trends in R&D — the Danforth Center has been in the mix with all of them.
