The Agile BioFoundry (ABF), supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO), announced the selection of five external collaborations totaling over $3 million to conduct research and development needed to accelerate the U.S. biomanufacturing sector.
The awardees will collaborate with scientists from the ABF consortium, leveraging DOE national laboratory capabilities to address challenges in biomanufacturing.
ABF has selected the following projects:
- AsimicA will work on increasing yields of a sustainable aviation fuel precursor by utilizing stem cell-like properties to solve key biomanufacturing challenges.
- Bluestem Biosciences aims to create an anaerobic platform that produces organic acids to unlock price-competitive, bio-based commodity chemicals.
- POET will work on creating natural solutions to combat contaminant bacteria that commonly cause infection in ethanol fermentations.
- Pow.bio will develop R. toruloides for the economically viable continuous biomanufacturing of fatty alcohols, enabling the decarbonization of many end-markets.
- Protein Evolution, Inc. will develop an enzyme system that breaks down polyethylene terephthalate (PET) to be used in their industrial process for recycling textile, bottle and other packaging waste.
The selected projects will contribute to decarbonizing energy-intensive industries and developing sustainable aviation fuels.
Funded by BETO, ABF develops biomanufacturing tools, processes, and partnerships that enable sustainable industrial production of renewable fuels and chemicals for the nation. The consortium of national labs aims to foster collaborations that result in technology transfer to industry.
ABF consortium members include Argonne National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and Sandia National Laboratories. ABF has more than 30 university and industry partners.
