Harnessing microbes to create sustainable products

A research company is developing a microbial catalogue to improve the manufacturing of sustainable products

Spotted: According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the global industrial sector consumes around 54 per cent of total delivered energy. Hoping to make the production of certain goods much less energy-intensive is Wild Microbes, a synthetic biology company developing new biomanufacturing hosts for faster and cheaper sustainable products. The company wants to make better, more affordable bio-alternatives to eliminate animal protein and harmful components like plastics from global supply chains. 

In general, biotechnology companies rely on the same five legacy microbes for the production of all products, and these aren’t designed for industrial-scale production, making manufacturing time-consuming and expensive. Wild Microbes identifies new microbes with attractive qualities and uses gene editing technologies to develop properties in target hosts. This makes them specifically geared towards the final product’s purpose. 

Wild Microbes is building a catalogue of these organisms that are engineered for easy scaling, and companies can choose from this catalogue to develop their perfect product. To begin with, the company is initially focused on new microbes for protein manufacturing used in industries like food, cleaning products, and cosmetics.  

The company recently announced a successful $3.3 million (around €3 million) pre-seed financing round, allowing Wild Microbes to develop its microbial engine and identify the first use cases for its growing microbial catalogue. 

Microbes are constantly being used to help the world to be more sustainable. Springwise has spotted microbes being used to create biological fertilisers and pesticides, and the use of microbes to clean up oil spills.

Written By: Anam Alam