Life Science Trends 2025: 5 technologies that will (maybe) save our world

Let’s dare a look into the future. To kick off 2025, we present five life science innovations that offer hope.

Companies around the world are currently abandoning their DEI and environmental targets at record speed. Does this mean that social justice and sustainability are out of style all of a sudden? Hell no! The problems behind these buzzwords remain real, are getting worse and are crying to be solved. Luckily, there are still life science pioneers out there working on them. We present five selected fields in which the industry is currently doing amazing work to make our lives and our planet a little better and healthier.

Interested? Then let’s jump right in!

Trend #1: Living medicines

Imagine a drug that contained benign bacteria programmed to fight a specific disease. The microorganisms could recognize whether your body is suffering from this disease and release the appropriate medication when needed. Sounds futuristic? Maybe, but believe it or not: There are researchers out there working on making it become reality.

Methods such as CAR T-cell therapy, in which the body's own immune cells are modified in the laboratory to destroy harmful tumor cells in a targeted manner, are already being used today to treat blood and lymph node cancer.

In the future, such 'living medicines' could play an important role in the development of personalized medicine - and be used to treat chronic diseases, for example.

Trend #2: Epigenetics

Our genetic material is not fixed: Our environment and our behavior can influence it. Epigenetics as a field investigates how such external factors affect our genes (and how they are passed on). A classic example is the question of whether increased cannabis consumption by parents before or during pregnancy influences their child's genetic disposition for psychiatric disorders such as autism, ADHD or schizophrenia.

Researchers are already working on preventing, stopping - or even reversing - such epigenetic changes. This way, completely new cancer therapies could be developed. The first drugs, for example to treat certain types of blood cancer, have already been approved. As with living drugs, this trend is aimed at creating personalized medicine that is as precise as possible.

Trend #3: In-vitro meat

In-vitro meat promises meat enjoyment without a guilty conscience. The idea is simple: If the mass for a burger patty or a nugget is not produced through slaughtering, but by growing tissue in the laboratory, this prevents all the animal suffering common in conventional meat production.

The industry behind in-vitro meat is still in its infancy: although it is already clear that in-vitro production facilities will require significantly less space than conventional meat production, it is still unclear whether the energy and water consumption will also be sustainable.

The extent to which lab-grown meat will become part of our diet remains to be seen. But it could work: in 2020, in-vitro chicken was added to the menus of selected restaurants in Singapore. In the USA, two companies received permission to sell lab-grown meat products.

Trend #4: Plastic-decomposing bacteria 

The pollution of our environment with plastic waste is a burden on the entire planet and - through microplastics - also has an impact on our physical health. In Germany, six million tons of plastic waste are produced every year.

Researchers have been looking for microorganisms that are able to decompose plastic for some time. The first bacteria with this ability have already been discovered in the Arctic and the Alps. The best thing:  These species can even do this at low temperatures. Whether this is sufficient for use on an industrial scale remains to be seen. However, if the leap from research to industry is successful, this could help to permanently solve one of our biggest environmental problems besides climate change.

Trend #5: Quantum chemistry

Whether in the development of new drugs or in materials science - whenever researchers want to understand the special properties of a molecule, they rely on extensive testing. Such research and development work involves a lot of trial and error - and often costs companies several years and large financial resources.

Quantum chemistry promises to change all that. Until now, even the most advanced supercomputers have only been able to simulate chemical processes very inadequately. Quantum computers, on the other hand, are expected to be much more powerful and accurate. They could revolutionize our pharmaceutical research, but also make our chemical industry much more efficient and environmentally friendly.

Want to find out more about quantum technologies? Then take a look at our customer case on QUTAC, the leading quantum computing consortium in German industry.

The future is here to stay

Our examples show: The life sciences have the opportunity to make our world a whole lot better. In order for this to work, they need to be accepted by the market. This is often not so easy, but it can be done. Our blog post on the topic of innovation communication illustrates this clearly.

Are you working in the life sciences yourself and looking for help to communicate your innovation successfully? Then get in contact with us now. Our innovation communication experts from the PIO BEYOND team will be happy to support you!