Towards Commercial Protein Production through Co-Engineering Marine Microorganisms and Feedstocks for Precision Fermentation

We are redesigning precision fermentation to enable truly-scalable animal-free food production.

Unsustainable agriculture and livestock industry are among the key drivers of GHG emissions, land use change and water use. To fight against environmental degradation, the food industry has been looking at innovative technologies to produce animal-free proteins. Precision fermentation allows production of biological compounds in microorganisms. Through this method, animal proteins can be produced in yeast and fungi and utilised for human consumption. However, precision fermentation is a technology developed over 50 years ago and optimised for the production of pharmaceutical high-value compounds like insulin. Without fundamental redesigning it cannot solve the key challenges that the current food industry is facing.

At BravelyCultured we are a team of PhD scientists and food supply-chain sustainability experts and we are selecting for novel marine microorganisms and seaweed-based feedstocks for precision fermentation. Our goal is to develop the technology which will decouple our food-supply chains from agriculture and shift it towards utilisation of the most plentiful resource on the planet -- the ocean.

The core objective of this project is to co-optimize our seaweed-based feedstocks and the most promising yeast and fungal strains to enhance cellulase enzyme secretion capacity. Cellulase finds extensive use in wine, coffee, juice, paper, and textile industries. Our aim is to provide a cost-effective and sustainably produced source of cellulase (high yielding cellulase secreting microorganism growing on optimal seaweed based feedstock), creating a readily commercialisable outcome.

Our novel marine microorganisms naturally produce cellulase when cultivated on seaweed feedstocks. To further enhance cellulase yields, we will employ directed evolution and random mutagenesis techniques. Collaborating with Multus Biotechnology, experts in feedstock development, we will optimise our seaweed-based feedstocks, significantly improving the economics of precision fermentation.

In the long term, we envision applying synthetic biology approaches to engineer our optimised strains for animal protein production on sustainable feedstocks, forming the cornerstone of our commercialisation strategy. Through this grant, we are eager to unlock the vast potential of precision fermentation and pave the way for a more sustainable and ethical food future.