Built with Biology

Built with Biology is SynBioBeta's podcast about the companies and scientists using engineered cells to make things that used to require factories, farms, or petroleum. Hosted by writers and operators from inside the synthetic biology community, each episode features a founder or researcher building something concrete: leather grown from yeast, fragrances brewed by microbes, carbon-negative materials, lab-grown meat, gene therapies, or sustainable fuels. The conversations go deeper than the usual startup pitch. Guests talk about strain engineering, scale-up headaches, the real cost of fermentation, regulatory questions, and why a promising molecule in a flask doesn't always survive the jump to a 20,000-liter tank. You'll hear from people who have actually shipped product and from researchers still working out the biology. The show treats synthetic biology as an engineering discipline grounded in real cells with real constraints, not a buzzword. It's a useful listen for biologists curious about industry, investors trying to separate hype from progress, and anyone who wants to understand how the next decade of bio-based manufacturing is being built. Episodes mix interviews with short industry updates and run between 30 and 60 minutes.