Two synthetic‑biology teams unveiled complementary advances to capture one‑carbon feedstocks and convert them into central metabolites. Northwestern and Stanford researchers reported an artificial metabolic pathway that converts waste CO2 into useful biochemical building blocks, while a separate group described ReForm, a cell‑free pathway that turns electrochemically produced formate into acetyl‑CoA. Both efforts aim to integrate electrochemical CO2 reduction with biochemical conversion platforms to create sustainable feedstocks for biotechnology. Acetyl‑CoA is a core metabolite used to build diverse cellular products; these cell‑free and engineered metabolic approaches lower dependency on sugar feedstocks and open routes for carbon‑efficient biomanufacturing.