SOLAR-DRIVEN SYNTHESIS OF PROTEINS AND LIPIDS VIA PHOTOELECTROCHEMISTRY OF LIVING ORGANISMS
SOLAR-DRIVEN SYNTHESIS OF PROTEINS AND LIPIDS VIA PHOTOELECTROCHEMISTRY OF LIVING ORGANISMS
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UPCOMING EVENT: SOLARSPOON RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM - 20th May 2026 Cambridge
UPCOMING EVENT: SOLARSPOON RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM - 20th May 2026 Cambridge
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Join us for an exciting programme of talks on the theme of Turning Solar Energy into Food Ingredients.
Date and time: 20th May 2026, Wednesday - 14:00
Location: Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge
Pfizer Lecture Theatre
How to find the venue
The Department of Chemistry is located on Lensfield Road in Cambridge, UK. (CB2 1EW)
We recommend you travel here on foot, by bike or by public transport. Please note that unfortunately we are unable to offer car parking at the venue as space is very limited and reserved for employees of the department. You may be able to find limited parking space in nearby streets, or use one of the public car parks within 10-15 minutes walking distance e.g. Queen Anne Terrace Car Park, Grand Arcade Car Park, etc.
When you arrive at the venue, please go to the main entrance and Reception area at the western side of the building. As you enter the foyer, you will find the Pfizer Lecture Theatre directly ahead to the left.
There is no need to register for the event, and no need to sign in as a visitor at Reception, just go straight to the lecture theatre.
Please also note: this is an in-person event with no option to join online. However, talks will be recorded and shared online later.
Our mission
Our mission
SOLARSPOON aims to rethink how we make food by using the most abundant resources around us: sunlight, air, and water. Instead of relying on farmland, fertilisers or traditional crops, our project explores how living microorganisms can be electrified, powered by solar energy to produce essential nutrients like proteins and fats. By bringing together biology, renewable energy and advanced engineering, we seek to create a new kind of food-production system that is both sustainable and independent of agricultural land.
Our long-term mission is to make nutritious food accessible anywhere, even in places where farming is difficult or impossible. Whether for remote communities, future households wanting local production, or life-support systems in space exploration, SOLARSPOON envisions compact, solar-driven devices that can convert basic molecules from the air into edible ingredients.
Our technology
Our technology
Our team is developing innovative, fast and highly energy efficient solar-powered devices that bring microbes and electrochemistry together in one integrated system. Once complete, these devices will achieve energy conversion rates well beyond the capabilities of photosynthetic plants. Sustainability is at the forefront of our efforts: instead of feeding microbes with sugar - an expensive resource tied to agriculture - we aim to supply them with energy and nutrients derived almost entirely from sunlight and air.
The project is built around five major research goals: creating sustainable food-compatible light-driven anodes; electrifying protein-producing microbes; engineering new microbial partnerships to diversify food products; designing compact devices that bring all these components together; and ensuring that the whole system is sustainable, value adding and practical for real-world use.
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