With beer-pouring robot technology still in its infancy, responsible adults are in desperate need of some exciting alcoholic innovation to liven up their drab, mildly alcoholic lives. Thankfully, some mad scientists over in England are working on just the thing: according to the Telegraph, British researchers are hard at work creating “designer” genomes that can be inserted into yeast cells to create new strains, and in turn, enable breweries to make stronger batches of brew at cheaper prices.
Professor Paul Freemont, from the centre for synthetic biology and innovation at Imperial College of London, is helping lead the project, which has been granted £1 million of government funding. He explained the process by which the scientists hope to make synthetic yeast, which would be able to tolerate more alcohol before dying, ensuring stronger brews.
"One of the aims of the project is to develop this yeast strain as a vehicle that you can put in new chemical pathways and directly manipulate it in a way that is not possible at the moment," he told the Telegraph. "Clearly there are strains of yeast that are highly resistant to alcohol, but they all die off as the alcohol gets higher, so making more alcohol resistant strains will be very useful for that industry in terms of cost value. Strains that are metabolically more optimal and don't require as much energy will also be useful.”
In the meantime, go ahead and read
