1. Joined
    06 Mar '12
    Moves
    642
    24 Mar '14 09:134 edits
    Here they artificially evolved a whole set of enzymes to make a normally relatively expensive HIV drug but at room temperature and pressure to make it much cheaper. This surely is the future for drug manufacture i.e. using enzymes evolved to do the job cheaply and energy efficiently. They use a kind of 'evolution in reverse' to evolve the whole set of enzymes as a whole to produce the target drug but the principle they used for designing each individual enzyme is the same as that of 'normal' evolution i.e. not 'in reverse' in particular:

    http://phys.org/news/2014-03-shifting-evolution-reverse-cheaper-greener.html

    I envisage it will surely not only be drugs that would be made this way in the far future but virtually all kinds of materials including materials for fibers, electric cables, cloth, house building materials, solar panels, cars, microchips computers etc. There is no insurmountable barrier to designing and using artificial enzymes to make these solid materials and thus these materials will eventually become dirt-cheap.

Cookies help us deliver our Services. By using our Services or clicking I agree, you agree to our use of cookies. Learn More.I Agree