News Digest #236 – Pivot Bio’s nitrogen-producing microbes, Ginkgo’s cultured cannabinoids, and more (sponsored by Pivot Bio)

Hi all,We’re focusing on agriculture in this digest. Pivot Bio CEO Karsten Temme recently spoke on Bloomberg Technology about the impact of crop fertilizers on the environment. It’s pretty bad: CO2 emissions from the production of fertilizers, greenhouse gas emissions from nitrous oxide, and harmful algal blooms that create dead zones. Pivot’s getting closer to launching a sustainable alternative to synthetic nitrogen fertilizer: nitrogen-producing microbes. Because of their work, they were recently selected as one of Forbes’ Most Innovative AgTech Startups. “FarmaBro” Karsten Temme will be talking about this during his keynote at SynBioBeta this year!

Corn grown with Pivot Bio’s nitrogen-producing microbes is greener and healthier.

In other news, Ginkgo Bioworks announced a partnership with Cronos Group to produce cultured cannabinoids, which have potential medicinal applications for chronic pain, nausea, weight loss, and nervous disorders. It is difficult to extract high-purity cannabinoids from the cannabis plant because they are present at such low quantities, and Ginkgo’s addressing this challenge by engineering cannabinoid-producing yeast.

What’s happening in food and ag at SynBioBeta 2018?

Session: Food 2.0

In this session, meet the entrepreneurs that are driving forward the future of sustainable food and agriculture. From vegan pet food to protein-based sweeteners, this session will feature many of the rising stars of the new food movement.

Workshop: Corteva Agriscience

This workshop will introduce Corteva Agriscience, the agriculture division of DowDuPont, and discuss how we see bringing the outside in and partnering with others as key to success in modern agriculture.

Workshop: Future of farming (sponsored by Pivot Bio)

Join this workshop discussion with diverse experts in agriculture, biotech, and technology as we explore the demands of modern agriculture and the solutions that technology can bring to farmers.

Focus session: Environmental applications of synthetic biology

Synthetic biology offers powerful tools for protecting the environment, from reducing harmful emissions to neutralizing toxic by-products to increasing biodiversity. Join this session to learn about the latest applications, and how your technology may be able to help turn the tide.

Focus session: Scaling up for food, biomaterials and consumer goods

Bio-based manufacturing processes must be not only be as cheap as their decades-old conventional cousins, but they must also prove equal performance. How best is synthetic biology used to de-risk the scale-up process, and how can startups position their technology for maximum scalability?Hope to see you soon!Regards,John

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Teewinot has now secured three U.S. patents covering cannabinoid formulations