Editorial overview: Cell and pathway engineering. Moving from possible to profitable: recent innovations in cell and pathway engineering.

If you are reading this issue, you already know that biological systems are outstanding engineering opportunity. Nature’s ability to control chemical and physical processes across a broad range of length scales (from angstrom to meter) is amazing. Because biological structures are often modular and encoded in DNA, these systems are amenable to engineer these for producing fuels, chemicals and therapeutics. This issue highlights new tools for controlling these biological processes and progress toward addressing societal challenges in renewable sources of energy and materials.