In.Bio 2025  Bootcamp 
           

The challenge.  The rapid expansion of the global market for advanced electronics has introduced significant environmental challenges in three critical areas:

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• Mining: Extracting rare earth elements and other materials used in electronics releases heavy metals, threatening ecosystems and public health.

• Manufacturing: Semiconductor production requires enormous amounts of water and energy, while emitting significant greenhouse gases.

• E-Waste Accumulation: Improper disposal of electronic waste, often handled under unsafe conditions in developing countries, causes severe harm to local communities and the environment.

These challenges, driven by the increasing demand for consumer electronics, are recognized as major environmental and health risks. Urgent mitigation strategies are necessary to address these issues and ensure sustainable development.
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The science.  Protein Design—a breakthrough field in synthetic biology recently recognized with a Nobel Prize—uses computational approaches to create functional proteins. These designs leverage principles ranging from basic biochemical rules to cutting-edge deep learning models.

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Recent advancements in protein design have demonstrated the capacity to template semiconductor material growth into defined geometries. Once a biomineralization system and the target template protein are encoded into bacteria, the process can be scaled exponentially. Given the rapid replication rate of bacteria, a single engineered bacterium has the theoretical potential to cover the surface of the Earth with a 1-meter-thick layer in approximately 33 hours under ideal conditions. This scalability opens up groundbreaking possibilities for fabricating advanced electronics in microbial factories, presenting a sustainable and efficient alternative to traditional manufacturing methods.
 

Aims.  The InBio 2025 Bootcamp & Hackathon aims to expand the protein design skill base in Sweden, across Scandinavia, and throughout the EU. The program begins by introducing protein design to the general public and the engineering community, highlighting its potential as a platform for sustainable biomanufacturing of advanced electronics. It then moves into hands-on training for engineers, developers, scientists, and other innovators, focusing on design challenges that are both achievable within the scope of a bootcamp or hackathon and capable of delivering clear societal value—particularly in low-resource and developing regions. By bringing together diverse talent, the initiative seeks to tap into the remarkable brainpower of Scandinavia and ignite a surge of protein design–driven innovation.