Again acquires Geno to advance biomanufacturing at scale with AI design

Again acquires Geno to advance biomanufacturing at scale with AI design Denmark-based LuaBio ApS, operating as Again, today announced the acquisition of Genomatica Inc. to combine the company’s cutting-edge biomanufacturing capabilities with Geno’s artificial intelligence discovery and design platform for biomolecules. Again co-locates modular bioreactors that use specially engineered microbes alongside industrial carbon dioxide emitters that feed waste gas directly into fermentation equipment rather than transport and sort the gas to distant facilities. The company’s work involves using bacteria as living chemical factories. It uses a strain of CO2-fixing Moorella bacteria and AI-guided design to have them produce specialized enzymes that exchange CO2 and hydrogen for acetate, acetic acid and related derivatives. These raw materials can be purified and refined into feedstock input for industries such as adhesives, solvents, plastics, textiles and cosmetics. As a result, any commercial-scale CO2 producer can be turned into a recycling point that lowers lifecycle emissions and can replace fossil-derived materials. Geno produces and licenses biotechnology and simulation technologies for industrial process engineering for plant-derived chemicals and ingredients, replacing fossil fuel-based materials such as long-chain polycarbons. Its engineered microorganisms ferment plant sugars into materials used in consumer and industrial products. Although the company uses a variety of microorganisms depending on the chemical it is trying to make, its primary workhorse is engineered Escherichia coli strains. This is because E. coli is one of the best-understood bacteria across bioengineering and the most deeply studied in academia, as it grows exceptionally well in massive, industrial-sized fermentation tanks, which is critical for making millions of pounds of eco-friendly chemicals. Examples of product lines provided by Geno include renewable intermediates for spandex; multifunctional ingredients for cosmetics; bio-based alternatives for apparel, cosmetics, and carpets; nylon-based products; plant-sugar-derived products; and specialty chemical building blocks for fragrances. Rather than owning every production plant, Geno also licenses its biomanufacturing processes to major manufacturers, including Novamont S.p.A. and Qore, a joint venture between Cargill Inc. and HELM AG. The two companies did not disclose the terms of the transaction. Again said that, at its core, the deal with Geno is data; the company is acquiring Geno’s entire AI computational biotech platform. This includes its entire patent portfolio, which includes data spanning experimental results, structural and scale-up insights and developmental outcomes. More data will allow higher accuracy in discovery and enable faster progress, compressing the time required to produce new products when moving from idea to market. Carbon dioxide is a powerful greenhouse gas. Together, Geno and Again will have an estimated combined capacity to divert up to 85 million tons of CO2 per year. As the two companies tackle carbon reduction on two different sides of biomanufacturing, their individual estimates reflect both direct carbon capture and indirect emission avoidance. Geno’s platform works for mass-scale industrial replacement and could prevent 85 million tons of carbon emissions annually; Again’s capture processes up to 1 ton of emissions per day. Again goes even further by preventing more pollutants from entering the atmosphere by bypassing the petrochemical routes required to make acetate, reducing the CO2 load further by up to 3 tons. Now that the two companies are combined, they can accelerate these figures even further and pass the savings on to industrial outlets that license the technology for acetate and derivative stock production. Not only will this lower overall emissions and environmental stress — making regulators and people with lungs happier — but it will also recycle what was originally waste into more efficient revenue streams. Image: Pixabay A message from John Furrier, co-founder of SiliconANGLE: Support our mission to keep content open and free by engaging with theCUBE community. Join theCUBE’s Alumni Trust Network, where technology leaders connect, share intelligence and create opportunities. 15M+ viewers of theCUBE videos, powering conversations across AI, cloud, cybersecurity and more 11.4k+ theCUBE alumni — Connect with more than 11,400 tech and business leaders shaping the future through a unique trusted-based network. Are you AWS customer? 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