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York Environmental Sustainability Institute
HomeYork Environmental Sustainability InstituteYESI FellowsYESI Discipline Hopping Fellows Bioengineering for Sustainable Systems

The hat-trick flies

Engineering biology for sustainable waste, food, and biomanufacturing systems

Sustaining a global population of more than 8 billion people—projected to exceed 10 billion by the mid-2080s—will require robust systems for waste management, food and feed production, and the biomanufacturing of recombinant proteins for biotechnology, research, and healthcare. Black soldier flies offer a unique “hat-trick” potential to contribute to all three areas in a more sustainable manner. They can process waste with lower greenhouse-gas emissions, and they can upcycle organic waste into feed, food, and recombinant proteins (when coupled with genetic engineering technologies), reducing dependence on traditional raw-material- and energy-intensive methods.

Black soldier fly larvae naturally convert organic waste into biomass rich in lipids and proteins. Advances in genetic engineering now make it possible to enhance multiple aspects of this bioconversion process and to enable larvae to produce recombinant proteins, effectively transforming them into “living bioreactors” that use organic waste as a feedstock.

Although the technology is feasible and likely to generate positive impacts, its exact benefits for current waste-management systems, food and feed production, and recombinant-protein biomanufacturing remain unclear.

Aims and Objectives

This project establishes a new interdisciplinary collaboration that integrates engineering biology, waste-supply-chain management, sustainable consumption and production, and policy engagement to:

  1. quantify the potential improvements enabled by genetically modified black soldier fly larvae, and 
  2. examine the requirements for building a viable business case, embedding the technology within existing supply chains, and aligning it with broader policy frameworks.

This funding allowed us to engage with a wide range of stakeholders and begin asking whether what we had developed in the lab had a meaningful place in the real world and, if so, what positive impact it could realistically deliver and how the technology would need to be developed and delivered to achieve that impact.

- Joshua Ang

Project Outputs

This YESI Fellows project evaluated the real-world feasibility and supply chain requirements of using genetically modified black soldier fly larvae for waste management, food production and biomanufacturing.  The project team conducted stakeholder interviews across the insect farming sector, engaging producers, buyers, suppliers, researchers and regulators to map out practical supply chains and industry needs.

Alongside stakeholder engagement, laboratory testing successfully established an initial proof of concept to measure yield and production costs for extracting recombinant proteins from larvae.  The team also contributed insights to the Insect Farming Codes of Practice Roundtable organised by the Royal Entomological Society.  A co-authored journal article examining supply chain creation for insect farming solutions is currently in preparation.

Principal and Co-Investigators

Principal Investigator

Dr Joshua Ang, Department of Biology

Co-Investigators

Prof Melanie Kreye, School for Business and Society

Dr Jonathan Green, Stockholm Environment Institute

Prof Luke Alphey, Department of Biology