The University of Melbourne has announced that Cell Bauhaus, its affiliated research startup, has received a grant of AU$3 million ($1.8 million) from the Gates Foundation in support of work utilizing "digital twins"—virtual duplicates of biological cells formed on a computer—to investigate how genetic changes alter cellular behavior.

The grant was awarded through the foundation’s global health Accelerator program to pioneer the designs of cells in silicon. The technology in production will offer insights into cell behavior across millions of real-world scenarios, such as food security. The funding will enhance the development of Cell Bauhaus’ strain engineering platform and expand research into additional fungal organisms that underlie modern biotechnology.

“There is an urgent need to revolutionize the development of new biotechnological solutions to tackle food security and climate change; doing this digitally as opposed to in a lab, means significantly reducing costs and resource time,” said Cell Bauhaus co-founder and CEO Megan Coomer. “We will build on this opportunity and hope to attract scientists and software engineers to join our dynamic team.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/poba)