BERKELEY, CALIF. — Shiru and GreenLab are commercializing food proteins using GreenLab’s corn expression system. The companies are targeting the functional ingredients across bio-industrial applications and sustainable alternatives for petroleum-based and chemically derived ingredients for the consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry.
Shiru uses its artificial intelligence (AI)-powered platform, ProteinDiscovery.ai, for ingredient discovery while GreenLab produces proteins in corn.
GreenLab uses a technology to grow enzymes and other proteins inside corn kernels. Once the protein is extracted from the corn kernel, GreenLab uses the corn in most of the value chain including food, feed or fuel.
“This partnership brings together some of the best natural protein compounds with a highly productive agricultural production platform to manufacture proteins that are not only sustainable but also scalable and commercially viable,” said Jasmin Hume, PhD, founder and chief executive officer of Shiru. “While we continue to leverage precision fermentation in our screening efforts at Shiru, we’ve always acknowledged that scaling our ingredients can be done via microbes or crops. By integrating GreenLab’s corn expression platform with our AI-driven ingredient discovery, we’re unlocking an entirely new way to produce high-performance food proteins that nourish billions without exhausting the planet’s resources.”
The proteins may be used in such applications as sweeteners and additives and enzymes.
"We're fundamentally changing how the industry approaches protein production," said Maurice Moloney, president and chief science officer of GreenLab. "Corn is a powerful and efficient system for expressing proteins, and by working with Shiru, we're taking the next step in creating truly scalable, commercially viable and sustainable ingredients for CPG companies worldwide."
