Fermented Protein Could Be The Path to Sustainable Aquaculture

In 2013, Larry Feinberg and Chris Marx founded KnipBio with\r\none goal in mind: sustainability. 

It’s an area Feinberg has been personally invested in for\r\nthe last 15 years. A microbiologist by training, Feinberg previously worked for\r\nWaltham-based Mascoma, a corporation that produces cellulosic biofuel. Coming\r\nup with alternative fuel sources via fermentation was the kind of major problem\r\nFeinberg enjoyed solving. He wanted to apply that knowledge—and\r\nenthusiasm—elsewhere.

“Being a fermentation guy, and also being a pescatarian by\r\ndietary preference, I got really upset about the sustainability of my own\r\nfood,” Feinberg said. “I thought maybe I could do something about it.”

Feinberg started KnipBio in “the humblest of beginnings—my\r\nown barn,” as he told the University of Massachusetts Lowell. He and Marx, in\r\ntheir combined research, discovered a microbe that was ideal for producing\r\nprotein: a bacterium called methylobacterium extorquens. The first\r\napplication? Aquaculture, a.k.a. feeding fish on fish farms. Protein is an\r\nincreasingly scarce ingredient in fish feed.

KnipBio’s technology essentially uses the bacterium to\r\ncreate protein as a byproduct of the fermentation process—much the same way\r\nbeer is typically brewed, where wort is fed to yeast in giant fermentation\r\nvats. As the yeast eat the wort, they emit alcohol. KnipBio’s microbes emit\r\nprotein instead.

“We are brewing protein,” Feinberg said.

That protein then goes into KnipBio’s flagship product,\r\n“KnipBio Meal,” a mixture meant to feed fish on fish farms. It’s designed to\r\nreplace current standard fish feed made from ground-up sardines, anchovies or\r\neven soybeans, which Feinberg says is unsustainable.

Genetically engineering microbes and replicating them to\r\ngenerate useful byproducts is a practice that extends back almost 30 years. In 1990, the U.S. Food and Drug\r\nAdministration approved chymosin, an enzyme made from genetically\r\nmodified E. coli and used to curdle cheese. Until then, the primary\r\nmethod of curdling cheese required calf rennet, an enzyme retrieved from the\r\nfourth stomach lining of slaughtered baby cows. Chymosin was among the first\r\ngenetically engineered products to be approved by the FDA. Today, other\r\nFDA-approved food products made with genetically modified microbes include many\r\nvitamins and vanillin—they’ve received the designation of “Generally Recognized\r\nas Safe,” or GRAS.

In February, KnipBio joined their ranks by receiving GRAS status itself. It was a process five years in\r\nthe making, essentially since KnipBio was originally founded, that involved\r\nscores of scientific trials, back-and-forth conversations with the FDA and a\r\n1,000-page dossier.

KnipBio is making headway overseas, too. Last month, its\r\nproduction method received a patent approval from the European Union Patent\r\nOffice, granting broad-based protection for the company’s intellectual property\r\nrights in the use of methylotrophic bacteria to produce single-cell proteins\r\nfor animal feeds. 

Today, KnipBio operates out of the University of\r\nMassachusetts Lowell’s Massachusetts Medical Device Development Center (M2D2).

“Lowell itself has some fantastic bones,” Feinberg said.\r\n“It’s got these amazing old mills and the canals. The university is here, so\r\nthere’s a vibe there in terms of culture and arts. It’s a combination of all\r\nthose, plus affordability. Not to mention I live about 25 minutes away.”

Feinberg heads up a full-time staff of 13 as CEO. KnipBio\r\nhas funding from both grants and outside investment, including a recently\r\nclosed funding round of $1.5 million.

Feinberg says his team is in the process of soft-launching\r\nproducts now, with eyes toward hard launches next year. KnipBio’s first\r\ncustomers will be fish farm operators.

Feinberg sees a clear path from fish farms to table in\r\nimproving sustainability all along the aquaculture supply chain. Today, most of\r\nAmerica’s seafood is imported, much of it caught in the Pacific in regions\r\nwhere fishing practices are loosely regulated. That means it’s often unclear\r\nwhether a species is being overfished, or whether it’s even safe to eat—fish\r\ntoday is often loaded with plastics and heavy metals.

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“Our feed, growing something in a fermenter, is highly\r\ntraceable,” Feinberg said. “You know exactly what goes in a reactor. You know\r\nexactly what comes out… I think the emerging voice of the consumer is for\r\ntransparency and accountability. The whole sector has to change. It needs to\r\ncome from innovative companies like ours, ultimately.”

Source : BOSTINNO