WIPO China: Designing with Life - Biofabricate's Suzanne Lee Envisions a “New Material World”
本文原载于2023年第2期《WIPO杂志》。作者为凯瑟琳·朱厄尔，产权组织信息和数字外联司。
The article was originally published in the issue 2/2023 of WIPO Magazine. The author is Catherine Jewell, Information and Digital Outreach Division, WIPO.
“我们认为细菌、酵母、藻类和菌类等生物体是未来的细胞工厂，”Biofabricate首席执行官Suzanne Lee表示。（图：onairjiw / iStock / Getty Images Plus）
“We think about organisms such as bacteria, yeast, algae and fungi as the cell factories of the future,” says Suzanne Lee, CEO of Biofabricate. (Photo: onairjiw / iStock / Getty Images Plus)
“我们需要一场材料革命，就在现在，”Biofabricate首席执行官兼创始人Suzanne Lee在她2020年关于“生物制造”的Ted演讲中强调。Biofabricate是一家致力于“可持续生物材料创新”的精品店，正在教育企业如何利用基于自然的技术来创造一个“新材料世界”。通过拥抱生物制造，即利用生物技术的进步来生产和使用原材料，制造时尚、体育和建筑等行业的产品，而不是依赖工厂化的农业和化石燃料，我们可以大幅削减二氧化碳排放，为遏制气候变化做出贡献。
"We need a material revolution, and we need it now,” proclaimed Suzanne Lee, the CEO and Founder of Biofabricate, in her 2020 Ted Talk on “biofabrication”. Biofabricate is a “sustainable biomaterial innovation” boutique that is educating companies on how to use nature-based technologies to create a “new material world.” By embracing biofabrication – which employs advances in biotechnology to produce and use raw materials for the manufacture of products in sectors such as fashion, sports and construction – instead of relying on factory farming and fossil fuels, we could significantly reduce CO2 emissions and help curb climate change.
Lee向《WIPO杂志》介绍了她的生物制造之路，以及我们为何必须认真对待微生物，将其作为未来的织物。
Lee spoke with WIPO Magazine about her road to biofabrication and why we must take microorganisms seriously as the fabric of the future.
WIPO杂志：您的旅程始于“生物时装”项目。您能否告诉我们那是如何形成的，以及您所追寻的目标是什么？
WM: Your journey began with the “Biocouture” project. Can you tell us how that came to be, and what you were seeking to achieve?
Suzanne Lee：我是一名接受过培训的时装设计师。我对时尚的未来感到好奇，2002年，我正在为我的书《时尚的未来：明天的衣橱》做研究，当时我与生物学家朋友David有过交流，他拥有自己的材料公司。他提出了一个极具启发性的概念，即我们可以利用微生物来培养所需要的织物和其他材料，而不是在田间地头栽培植物或饲养动物以获得肉类和皮革，甚至是使用石化产品。
Suzanne Lee: I'm a fashion designer by training. I was curious about the future of fashion, and in 2002, I was doing research for my book, Fashioning the Future: Tomorrow's Wardrobe, when I had that conversation with my biologist-friend David, who owned his own materials company. He proposed the incredibly provocative notion that instead of growing plants in fields or raising animals for meat and leather, or even using petrochemicals, we could harness microorganisms to grow the fabrics and other materials we need.
正是像这样具有启发性的时刻改变了我的一切。
It was one of those light bulb moments that changed everything for me.
我们在联合王国艺术与人文研究委员会的资助下达成合作。
We set up a collaboration with funding from the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council.
我们的目的是证明自己可以利用微生物来培养服装面料。这是高级时装，也就是纯手工时装和生物学的结合——因此被称为“生物时装”。
The goal was to prove we could grow materials for clothing using microbes. It was the coming together of haute couture, the very hands-on making of a garment, with biology – hence, “biocouture.”
我们使用了红茶菌培养物，这是一种酵母和细菌的混合物。你所需要做的就是给细菌提供糖分，它们会产生纤维素纤维，这些纤维素纤维经过自然地自我组装，形成一种非织造面料。
We used a kombucha culture, which is a mix of yeast and bacteria. All you need to do is feed the bacteria with sugar and they create cellulose fibers, which naturally self-assemble to form a non-woven sheet material.
最后，在我的伦敦工作室里，有大约20个浴缸大小的罐子用于培养面料。作为一名设计师，我学会了如何处理这些材料，并将其变成可用于服装、鞋或包的材料。曾有媒体和一些品牌对我的研究很感兴趣，而我领先了20年。在2002年时，几乎没有人会谈及可持续发展。
Eventually, I had about 20 bathtub-sized tanks growing sheets of material in my London studio. And as a designer, I learned how to treat the material and turn it into something that could be used in a garment, a shoe or a bag. I had a lot of interest from the press, and some brands, but I was 20 years too early. Very few people were talking about sustainability in 2002.
在那之后，我的研究方向从时尚转变为生物技术。接下来的10年里，我在欧洲参加合成生物学会议，努力了解生物学能做什么，以及是否有可能利用微生物来培养材料。
After that, I switched from researching fashion to researching biotech. I spent the next 10 years in Europe going to conferences on synthetic biology, trying to understand what biology could do and whether it is possible to grow materials using microorganisms.
如今，20年已经过去，我为希望重走生物时装之路的初创企业提供咨询，它们都获得了资助。
Now, 20 years later, I'm advising startups that are basically copying the Biocouture process, and they're all getting funded.
Biofabricate首席执行官Suzanne Lee（上）在纽约举行的2022年Biofabricate峰会上。该峰会自2014年开始举办，汇集了引领生物材料革命的创意者、科学家、投资者和品牌。（图：BiofabricateTM）
Biofabricate CEO Suzanne Lee (above) at the 2022 edition of the Biofabricate Summit in New York. The Summit, which has been running since 2014, brings together the creatives, scientists, investors and brands that are leading the biomaterial revolution. (Photo: BiofabricateTM)
此后，您是如何创立Biofabricate的？
How did you come to establish Biofabricate after that?
2014年，在搬到纽约加入生物科技公司Modern Meadow并担任首席创意官六个月后，我组织了第一届Biofabricate峰会。我发现明显需要一个活动，将创意者、科学家、投资者和品牌聚集在一起，相互学习，更理想的是，催生新的公司。我原本以为这会是一场一次性的活动，但从那时起，我们就一直在举办这一活动。
In 2014, six months after having moved to New York to join Modern Meadow, a biotech company, as their chief creative officer, I organized the first Biofabricate summit. I saw there was a clear need for an event to bring together the creatives, the scientists, the investors and the brands to learn from one another and ideally spark new companies. I thought it was going to be a one-off event, but we've been running them ever since.
知识产权是如何支持生物制造领域发展的？
How are intellectual property rights supporting the development of the biofabrication field?
我从未想过自己的名字会出现在多项专利上，但我确实做到了，而且这些专利都与生物制造材料有关。在我们生产这些材料的方式中，有机会获得如此多新奇的东西，需要保护这些想法。专利是一个首要关切，因为这个行业中的许多方面资金来源都是风险资本。
I never thought I'd have my name on multiple patents, but I do, and they all relate to biofabricated materials. There is opportunity for so much novelty in the way we are producing these materials and a need to protect those ideas. Patents are a prime concern because so much of this industry is funded by venture capital.
与我们合作的每一家初创企业都在以不同的方式考虑他们的知识产权，无论是通过专利来保护知识产权，还是以商业秘密的形式在内部保存其知识。你在创新上投入了那么多资金，就必须从一开始就考虑知识产权。
Every startup we work with is thinking about their intellectual property (IP) in different ways, whether protecting it by using patents or preserving their knowledge internally as trade secrets. You're not going to spend that amount of money on an innovation and not think about IP from day one.
对有抱负的年轻设计师和/或科学家，您有何寄语？
What is your message to aspiring young designers and/or scientists?
不要被条条框框所限制。我现在作为一名时装设计师，领导着一场围绕生物制造的运动。我在科学方面并非科班出身，而是自学成才。正是因为我拒绝被条条框框所限制，并对与来自其他学科的人合作持开放态度，才使我走到了今天。当你把背景截然不同的人汇集在一起，创新就会发生。
Don't be pigeonholed. Here I am, leading a movement around biomanufacturing as a fashion designer. I have no science training and am self-educated in this field. It's my refusal to be pigeonholed and my openness to working with people from other disciplines that has brought me to where I am today. Innovation happens when you throw people together from very different backgrounds.
“我们在微软最初的一次谈话就是关于使用DNA来存储数据。在世界范围内，我们想要存储的数据正呈指数级增长。生物学就是发展方向，”Biofabricate首席执行官Suzanne Lee谈道。（图：metamorworks / iStock / Getty Images Plus）
“One of the very first conversations we had at Microsoft was around using DNA to store data. The data we're trying to store in the world is growing exponentially. Biology is where that will go,” says Suzanne Lee, CEO of Biofabricate. (Photo: metamorworks / iStock / Getty Images Plus)
在线阅读全文，进一步了解Biofabricate。
Read the full article online and learn more about Biofabricate.
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