Conserving Resources in Life Science

Learning strategies to improve sustainability and protect nature is a great way to celebrate Earth Day. New England Biolabs (NEB) offers the Labconscious^® website as a resource for biologists to find green lab tips and follow sustainability trends in lab operations and biotechnology. We recently hosted a Go Green Symposium to exchange ideas on conserving resources in life science. This in-person meeting featured expert speakers and an opportunity to network. The symposium was held at the non-profit biotech incubator space, LabCentral, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Biologists, engineers, environmental health and safety, and sustainability professionals networked in solidarity as good stewards of the environment and scientific resources.

Solidarity for Environmental Stewardship at the Go Green Symposium

A first step to devising sustainability solutions is understanding the scope of environmental damage and its sources. Economically viable points of progress in academia and industry become even more meaningful.

Celina Chang launched the discussion with a presentation on the core principles of climate change, global impact, and solutions. Celina is a Terra.do™ fellow, and former bioengineer. She  has supported hundreds of biotech start-ups in operations and leadership roles. The pattern of increasing temperatures, wildfires, floods, and droughts prompted her to devote herself to working directly in climate solutions. She shared how greenhouse gas emissions are overwhelming the natural carbon cycle and concerns about permanent damage by climate scientists. Concerningly, pharmaceuticals and the life science sector accounted for approximately 4.5% of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions and toxic air pollutants, according to a Willis Towers Watson Report.  Attendees recognized the massive amounts of materials and energy required to operate laboratories and manufacture drugs. Celina shared how the carbon footprint is predicted to increase along with R&D and the delivery of new medicines. The potential environmental damage added gravitas to topics covered by the next speakers.

The next speaker, Professor Kristala L.J. Prather, Head of the Department of Chemical Engineering at MIT, remarked how perfectly Celina’s talk laid out big climate challenges. With a focus on designing biological cell systems, Professor Prather advocated for a paradigm shift in engineering, particularly in how we produce materials and chemicals we use. Instead of thinking about hydrocarbons in the input, the idea is to use renewable, sustainable resources. Essentially, we move from a hydrocarbon-focused economy toward a carbohydrate-focused economy. She shared commercialized biotechnologies that improve sustainability in industrial manufacturing, agriculture and plastics. It was exciting to see cell systems that enable cost savings and environmental stewardship.

Three additional talks covered several beneficial systems for conserving resources. MIT was represented in force. The EHS and the sustainability offices shared how they conserve surplus lab materials and equipment.  As well as how they recycle massive volumes of plastic pipette tip box waste. They also challenged the audience to consider how small modular nuclear reactors that provide safe, clean energy could power life science with nearly zero emissions. MIT likes to think big! Attendees admired the work of The Pipetting Pigeon, introduced in the final talk. This local initiative diverts laboratory surplus from going to waste and puts it into the hands of scientists in training labs, new academic labs, and biotech startups. In a sense, each conservation strategy shared reinforces resilience in life science work. 

Approaches to Conserving Resources and Protecting Nature at NEB

The monarch butterfly symbolizes the legacy of our founder, Don Comb, and NEB scientists’ passion for protecting biodiversity and ecosystems. Over fifty years, our approach has evolved. The passion has remained unchanged. NEB sustainability officer Levi Rogers summarized recent efforts at the Go Green Symposium. He also explained how our goals to protect nature and conserve resources dovetail into our B Corp certification. As a certified B Corp, NEB is committed to meeting the highest standards for social and environmental performance for private companies. B Corp™ certification centers on how we protect the environment, treat our workers, engage with the community, and practice customer stewardship. 

We’ve been busy improving our main campus recently. Our recently expanded LEED^®-certified facility sits on 160 acres, with 101 acres under conservation. This year, we established a pollinator-friendly wild flower field. We do love our NEB bees! According to the U.S. State of Birds Report, one-third of bird species are of high or moderate conservation concern. Therefore, we considered nesting areas and seasonal migration and installed glass fritting to minimize bird strikes. Inspired by the methods of ornithologists and ecologists, we piloted bioacoustics monitoring on campus. The hope is that the bioacoustics data will inform our future land management decisions. 

NEB also hosted a green fair on campus to engage our scientists in local food security and environmental organizations. Many groups receiving philanthropic support from NEB were invited to share their missions, including a few global organizations, like Osa Conservation. 

To support our customers' efforts to conserve resources and reduce environmental footprints, we offer options like consolidated shipping, NEBNow^® Freezer Programs, easily recyclable cold shippers, and the Monarch^® DNA & RNA purification kits. Monarch kits are only available in a sustainably designed format with less plastic than the leading supplier and a lower cost for end users.

Listen in to a bioacoustics monitoring recording from NEB campus of a bird chorus at dawn. Audio Credit: Andy Shumaker, Ph.D.. Campus wildlife photography credit: Emily Chen, Ph.D.

Planning for a greener future

Collaboration and networking across the life sciences can improve our sustainability and prevent damage to ecosystems and biodiversity. The Go Green Symposium speakers shared systems to reduce the carbon footprint. You can subscribe to Labconscious to view the rest of the Go Green Symposium talks as they are released. Over the next year, NEB is formalizing our program under a new sustainability strategy centered around climate & energy, waste minimization & circularity, water stewardship, ecosystem stewardship & biodiversity, and supporting society.  We hope that the entire life science community succeeds in pursuing these goals. Happy Earth Day, everyone!