Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology (TIB) is a non-profit national research institute established jointly by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and Tianjin Municipal Government on 29th November 2012. TIB is committed to establishing a national innovation system for industrial biotechnology to promote the eco-friendly development of industrial sectors. To this end, TIB has set up its mission to substitute renewable carbon resources for fossil resources, to replace traditional chemical processing with green bioprocessing, and to promote industrial productivity and efficiency through modern biotechnology. Accordingly, TIB has defined industrial protein science, biocatalytic engineering, synthetic biology, microbial manufacturing engineering, biological systems, bioprocess engineering, as its core scientific areas.
TIB is equipped with state-of-the-art core facilities for high-throughput screening, systems biotechnology, fermentation process optimization, pilot-scale testing, and genome synthesis. The National Engineering Laboratory for Industrial Enzymes, CAS Key Laboratory for Microbial Systems Biotechnology, Tianjin Key Laboratory for Industrial Biosystems and Bioprocess Engineering and Tianjin Engineering Center for Biocatalytic Technology are affiliated at the Institute. In addition, TIB has established a national professional maker space for biotechnology, the BIOINN Maker Space, which is home to a dozen of small and medium enterprises.
TIB is dedicated to scientific research, technological innovation, business cultivation, and graduate student education. Presently, it has more than 300 employees and 300 graduate students. TIB employs a three-dimensional dynamic R&D management system which comprises individual research groups, core facilities-affiliated enabling research groups, and Strategic and Integrative Research Center (SIRC). Individual research groups, led by 46 Principal Investigators, commonly conduct their own exploratory research. When there is a need from either the country, the local society, the industries, or other sectors, the RDIC responds and initiates R&D projects and coordinates different research/technical groups to accomplish the mission.
To date, TIB has undertaken more than 500 research projects sponsored by the Ministry of Science and Technology, National Natural Science Foundation of China, CAS and the local government. Targeting on addressing the energy, resource and environmental challenges faced by the country, TIB has made significant breakthroughs in key technologies such as high-throughput screening, genome editing, gene synthesis, genomic analysis, and new bioprocess design. Cutting-edge progresses have been made in development of novel cell factories and novel green bioprocesses. TIB is one of the leading institutes that pioneers the cost-efficient microbial production of bulk chemicals and natural plant products, using metabolic engineering and synthetic biology approaches.
To value scientific research, TIB always attaches great importance to technology transfer and commercialization. To date, it has successfully transferred more than 30 technologies (biomedicine, chemicals, new materials and enzyme related) to industries. More than 100 enterprises from over 20 provinces and cities of China have become partners/collaborators of TIB.
TIB is located in the beautiful Tianjin Airport Economic Area. Its 43,000 square metres complex is built in a 4 hectare campus. To meet its increasing need of development, TIB is constructing a 20,000 square metres new building in a 3 hectare campus. Currently, TIB is upgrading to the National Innovation Centre for Synthetic Biology, which will be a comprehensive, integrated and open-access platform to boost the development of revolutionary technologies for material synthesis, energy utilization, intelligent healthcare and environment protection. This will be achieved by the extensive unification, deep collaboration and broad networking in synthetic biology which will make TIB become an international research hub with strong research competence and influence in the field of biotechnology.
TIB has been awarded as a National Base for International S&T Cooperation by Ministry of Science and Technology of the People′s Republic of China. TIB is seeking the International cooperation with all organizations in the area of industrial biotechnology and related fields.
