Bioprocessing interview with Rodrigo Ledesma Amaro
How knowledge and industry are transforming our food systems
When supply chains are disrupted, it reveals the vulnerability in our global food system. Whatever the cause – and we have seen several in recent years, from geopolitics to climate – we know that to nourish a growing global population sustainably, we need to increase the system’s resilience. One way of doing this is to better utilize the science of engineering biology. It provides solutions that can reduce cost, improve quality, increase yield, and reduce downstream processing in a targeted way to produce food that is safe and more nutritious. Understanding is already being advanced in labs and scientific institutes around the world. What is required now is implementation. This is where industry plays a role, turning scientific potential into reality at scale.
The Bezos Centre for Sustainable Protein (BCSP) at Imperial College in London, UK is one of the scientific institutes leading the way, providing the knowledge and capabilities to drive forward research and – very importantly – partnering with players from across industry, like Bühler, that share the ambition to create a more sustainable and resilient food system. Bühler’s CTO Ian Roberts talked to BCSP Director Rodrigo Ledesma-Amaro about the role of engineering biology in the food system, and how collaborations between science and industry are driving sustainable transformation.
Ian Roberts, September 2026
The food system needs sustainable and resilient supply chains. What contribution can biotechnology make?
Biotechnology has the potential to make many of the food and food ingredients that we need in more resilient and climate-, land- and water-independent ways, which is essential to release some of the pressure in our agricultural systems. Recent developments in biotechnology, engineering biology, and bioprocessing, combined with higher demand from governments, the public, and industry, make this question very timely.
We've seen an evolution in technology and readiness to deploy technology in the last few years. Has this made food production a more attractive space for high-caliber scientists?
Absolutely. I think we are a good example of that. Imperial College is not a food university traditionally, but in the last few years, we've become a place for food biotechnology activities. That's because of the push we're getting from students who want to work in this space and make our food system more sustainable. That attraction of talent is going to have a big impact.
Imperial already has a fantastic reputation as a science and engineering school. How does the BCSP build on that?
We focus on what we call the enabling technologies that come from science and engineering. Specifically, we focus on bringing engineering, biology, and artificial intelligence into the food system space.
How do you bring those capabilities together?
We started by selecting researchers who are making great advances with these technologies that we believe, if applied to the food system, might have a big impact. Then we grew the network, bringing in collaborations and working more with industry. Ecosystem building is fundamental in order to make the change. It connects different disciplines to start thinking about the same problems.
Why is the relationship between academia and industry so important for you?
Our ambition is to make an impact on planetary health and human health through food systems. As academics, we are able to create solutions. But it is industry that puts products in the market or starts using a technology that is more sustainable. And that is what will make the impact on people and on the planet.
Do you have an example of an unusual academic field that is now more interested in food because of BCSP??
The one that has been interesting to work with is AI. It is so trendy at the moment that people want to work where the short-term impact is, and that's usually not food. It has been very interesting to convince those people of the long-term high impact they can make if they work on the food system. The other one may be obvious, but as academics we don't usually work with chefs. Now, we are working closely with them and with consumers. It helps us think about the whole process from the flask to the plate.
When we talk about biotechnology and AI in food, it sounds like new science. Yet fermentation, for example, isn't new to food, is it?
Absolutely not. One-third of the food we consume nowadays comes from fermentation in one way or another. We have been doing fermentation for thousands of years. What is new is the evolution of the technologies around fermentation in the last decade. Here we come back to engineering biology. We can now screen a diversity of microorganisms, model how they will perform, understand their metabolic capabilities, and engineer them to be better at producing specific molecules using precision fermentation or biomass fermentation to make proteins or fats. We work on developing novel bioprocesses that reduce cost, improve quality, reduce downstream processing, and convert the feedstock into a product with maximum yields and properties.
Science will allow us to do this precisely in a very targeted way that is safe and more nutritious. This is exciting, but can it seem scary for the non-scientific community?
When I talk about precision fermentation, it sounds like science fiction to some people. But breakfast cereals are often enriched with vitamin B2, which has been made by fermentation. This has been around for over three decades, and we know it's safe, scalable, and can be affordable. There are many other examples in our daily diet.
What do you see as the value of partnering with a company like Bühler?
I'm very excited about it. It's probably our flagship partnership at the moment. That comes from the perfect complementarity on skills, capabilities, and activities, and our focus on science, technology and novel ideas. You are the people that can make these ideas come true and can think about scaling them and integrating them into our food system. We usually start at a smaller scale thinking about microorganism strains and how to make them more efficient. You think about how to make them at a larger scale and supply them to companies to use in food products.
We need to get better at not duplicating what is already built in another place and give each other access. For example, I would love to see students from the BCSP use The Cultured Hub that we've built here in Switzerland.
That is a great example where you have a capability that we don't have that can help accelerate our science, but also your scaling process. That's where we should be working together. More broadly, I agree, we shouldn't be replicating, we should be coordinating, especially when resources are scarce.
What is your personal measure of success for the BCSP?
Our team is growing monthly because there are so many opportunities and we want to tackle them all. The more time I spend there, the more I realize that our capacity to change things is bigger; that I can dream bigger and think about larger problems. For me, it is about creating a network that can solve the problems that we have in our food system, change consumer perception, and steer governments in the right direction – one that can, in the end, make better use of natural resources and can feed more people in a better way everywhere. That's a very ambitious goal, right? I would like to keep growing our capability as a hub to connect everyone going in that direction.
We work on developing novel bioprocesses that reduce cost, improve quality, reduce downstream processing, and convert the feedstock into a product that has maximum yields and properties.
Rodrigo Ledesma-Amaro,
Director at the Bezos Centre for Sustainable Protein
Bühler’s customers feed 2 to 3 billion people every day. What is your message to them about the role biotechnology can play in the food system and in their businesses?
Biotechnology is the future. I believe that this is the technology that's going to feed most of the people and animals on the planet. These complementary processing methods are going to come, and are going to stay, for many reasons such as sustainability, food security, and affordability. We need to be thinking already about how the world will be in 20 to 50 years' time and start deploying technologies now that allow us to get there faster. So, be aware of the potential of biotechnology and start thinking of how it can help improve your processes and products in the short, medium, and longer term. We are very happy to talk to everyone and see how we can help in facilitating that.
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