Synthetic Plants
Backed by £62.4m, this programme will aim to catalyse a new generation of major crops that are more productive, resilient, and sustainable
Why this programme
Representing eighty percent of the world’s biomass, with scope to provide everything from food to pharmaceuticals, plants are a critical lever for addressing the dual challenges of sustainable food supply and climate change. To unlock their potential, we must accelerate the pace of agricultural innovation.
Synthetic biology is already revolutionising the world of healthcare. Exploring its application to tailor the traits of plants has the potential to transform the agricultural industry, and deliver valuable benefits ranging from food to pharmaceuticals and beyond.
What we’re shooting for
We see a vital opportunity to unlock new plant capabilities that can meet the future needs of humankind.
We aim to develop synthetic chromosomes and chloroplasts that are viable in a living plant. This will move beyond what can be accomplished with gene editing and imbue plants with new functionalities, from reducing agricultural water use to protecting crop yields in uncertain conditions.
Our goal: to unite expertise in synthetic biology and plant biology, opening pathways to a new generation of major crops and future-proofing our agricultural system.
Documents and links
Additional context for this programme
- Opportunity space: Programmable Plants [PDF]
- Programme thesis: Synthetic Plants [PDF]
- Angie’s solicitation presentation
- Slides for Angie’s solicitation presentation [PDF]
- Programme workshop report [PDF]
Applicant resources
- Call for proposals [PDF]
- Concept paper guidelines [PDF]
- Full proposal guidelines [PDF]
- Walkthrough for the application portal [PDF]
- How we select projects [PDF]
- Clarification questions specific to this call
About ARIA funding
If you require accessible documents, please contact clarifications@aria.org.uk
This programme is split into five technical areas (TAs), each with its own distinct objectives.
Design, Build, Deliver
Focuses on developing multiple designs for units that deliver a simple plant trait.
TA1
Social and Ethical
Addresses the social and ethical considerations surrounding synthetic plant technologies, ensuring responsible development and application.
TA2
Maintain
Focuses on maintenance and replication of units within cells.
TA3
Species transferability
Focuses on demonstrating units’ functionality in multiple crop species, including one monocot and one dicot.
TA4
Trait complexity
Focuses on successfully delivering agriculturally relevant complex traits using synthetic units.
TA5
Funding
Applications for this call are now closed
This solicitation seeks R&D Creators, which are individuals and teams that ARIA will fund to:
- Demonstrate that developing and implementing a functioning synthetic unit is possible, paving the way for progress in future decades;
- Overcome historic bottlenecks to breakthroughs in the overlap between synthetic and plant biology, specifically delivery of units to cells and maintenance of units in cells, to increase the number of plant varieties that can be transformed and sustained;
- Understand the ethical and social considerations around synthetic plants and what’s needed to navigate them.
Meet Angie
Synthetic Plants has been designed and overseen by Programme Director Angie Burnett with feedback from the R&D community, as part of the opportunity space Programmable Plants.
Angie Burnett is a plant biologist and has spent the last decade focusing on understanding the power of plants to solve some of our most pressing challenges such as food insecurity, climate change and environmental degradation. Previously, Angie was a Research Associate at the University of Cambridge.
