On March 13, 2015, the National Academies issued Industrialization Of Biology: A Roadmap To Accelerate The Advanced Manufacturing Of Chemicals, a 143-page report prepared in response to a request from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) to "develop a roadmap of necessary advances in basic science and engineering capabilities, including knowledge, tools and skills" to accelerate the advanced manufacturing of chemicals using biological systems. Thirteen committee members with expertise in synthetic biology, metabolic engineering, molecular biology, microbiology, systems biology, synthetic chemistry, chemical engineering, bioinformatics, systems integration, metrology, chemical manufacturing, and law and bioethics worked together with researchers to create a technical roadmap for the future of the biochemicals industry. The report, with chapters including "Industrial Biotechnology: Past and Present," "Vision of the Future: What New Chemicals Could Be Made?," and "How Do We Get There?," examines the regulatory and societal factors limiting the adoption of bioprocessing in the chemical industry today and makes recommendations for EPA, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and other agencies responsible for governance of existing and emerging biobased chemicals. A prepublication version of the report is available now, with a final publication date to be announced.

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