A co-created newsletter of resources and actions for climate biotech
Hello Climate Biotech Friends,
First off – we want to continue making this newsletter a helpful resource for our community. Would you please fill out this 4-question survey about your thoughts on our newsletter?
March has been a whirlwind of innovation, collaboration, and, for some of us, a hefty dose of caffeine. As we step into the spring season, we’re excited to share some milestones and updates from the Homeworld Collective community.
- Jobs Board & Talent Network: Our upcoming (free) jobs/talent platform is designed to grow opportunities for startups, established companies, research institutions, and the vast network of talented biotechnologists working in the climate space. Whether you’re hiring or seeking a job, we invite you to express your interest to be a part of the platform.
- Inaugural Garden Grants program outcomes: We’re thrilled to announce the outcomes of our first Garden Grants program. With a pool of $1.3M, we’ve funded 16 teams embarking on “big, if true” projects harnessing biotechnology for sustainability challenges. From enhancing solvent-compatibility of enzymes and CO2-capture efficiency in plants to pioneering direct air capture technologies, each project stood out for its problem-solving clarity and potential for global impact. Read our blog post announcing the winners or dive into our feature length piece describing what we learned from this process.
- Promoting problem-centricity in science: Blog post by Dan Goodwin on his personal Substack about expanding science beyond the duopoly of academia and startups.
- SXSW & Novo Nordisk Highlights: This month, Homeworld took part in discussions at both SXSW and the Automated Scientist Conference hosted by the Novo Nordisk Foundation Science Cluster. Paul Reginato, alongside Nazish Jeffery, Niko McCarty, and Vanessa Small, spoke on a panel to discuss fostering a collaborative culture to scale climate biotechnology solutions. At the Automated Scientist Conference, Dan Goodwin presented Homeworld’s work, in collaboration with Jesse Lou, Kyle Barnes and Hansen) on using AI to power techno-economic analyses to map the bioeconomy.
With love and action-oriented optimism,
The Homeworld Team
Jobs, Funding & Opportunities
Funding ($ looking for projects)
- The Cleantech Open accepting applications for the 2024 accelerator (h/t Erum Khan)
- Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) announced $29 million in funding towards the R&D of crops critical to accelerating a clean energy economy (h/t Nazish Jeffery)
- Bezos Earth Fund announces $60 million to establish Bezos Centers for Sustainable Protein
- Conservation X Labs launches The Con X Tech Prize to transform the Amazon’s economies, offering $3,500K seed grants and up to $20,000. Applications due April 26. (h/t Chad Gallinat)
Funding (Projects looking for $)
- Hendrik Kaye looking for fundraising advice for Esencia Foods.
Job postings
- Join our Talent Network within Homeworld’s Jobs Board!
- Research Group Leader – carbon capture technologies at the Max Planck Foundation, Germany
- Co-Founder in Residence (AI/ML Expert Transforming Crop Improvement) and Crop Biotechnology Commercialization Specialist through Deep Science Ventures
- Summer internship – UC Berkeley Energy Biosciences Institute (h/t Yi Liu)
- Principal – Venture Scientist and Intern, Chemical Engineer Analyst at Marble
- CTO – Business Architect for Degraded Land Restoration (company focused on a regenerative agriculture carbon capture system)
- Computational Biologist – Pasture Biosciences
- Enhanced Rock Weathering Scientist – Cascade Climate
- Associate Scientist in vivo Pharmacology and various Research Associates (Biophysics, Pharmacology, Bioprocess Development, Biochemistry) – AI Proteins
- Senior Data Scientist – BioMADE
- Sustainable Livestock Scientist, Enteric Methane – Spark Climate Solutions
- Senior Scientist – BioDrive
- Programme Lead and Programme Director positions at Quadrature Climate Foundation
- Senior Director of Technology (Bio-Sustainability Innovations) – The Stanford Sustainability Accelerator
- Fellow – ARPA-E (Rolling basis)
Research & News – What’s growing in our field
Technical resources
Innovations and Developments
- Mycelium and synbio for appealing alternative foods (h/t Alexa Jeanne Loste)
- Water-efficient tomatoes using CRISPRi
- Element Bioscience new multi-omics on flow cell (h/t Shahar Bracha)
- ERW Alliance launches, including Cascade Climate
- RoseTTAFold-All-Atom is now available on GitHub (h/t Cesar A. Ramirez-Sarmiento)
- Searchable Strain Database – UC Davis Phaff Yeast Culture Collection
Bioeconomy
- National Bioeconomy Board launched by the White House
- USDA aims to increase resilience of biomass supply chain – Report PDF
- Next steps towards a circular PET process
- Breaking the Cost Barriers of Biomanufacturing – Synonym and Boston Consulting Group
- 2023 Billion-Ton Report: An Assessment of U.S. Renewable Carbon Resources (h/t Nazish Jeffery)
GHGR and Climate Impact Studies
- Amber Janda’s Carbon Casting process is already projecting 15,000 tons/yr of CO2 – using photosynthesis to accelerate carbon capture.
- Adding clay to zooplankton diets to sink ocean carbon faster
- Big CDR TEA report from the BC Center for Innovation and Clean Energy
- Concerns about a looming CDR bubble (h/t Diane Matar)
- DoE’s Billion Ton Report on Carbon Removal (h/t Jesse Lou)
- Microbes deriving all energy, C and N from air (h/t Mary Lidstrom)
Research Advances and Methodologies
- Cellulose batteries to replace liquid electrolytes in next-gen batteries
- Cultivarium’s paper on amino acid composition predicting microbial growth conditions
- Protein design with AI-driven sequence-function mapping and engineering
Blog posts
- The methane-to-protein technology commercial landscape (h/t Milena Ivanisevic)
- Blog post by Dan Goodwin about expanding science beyond the duopoly of academia and startups
Events
- Geochemistry conference with a focus on ERW – Chicago+Remote August 18-23
- Info Session for ARPA-E Fellows Position – March 28, 4-5pm ET (h/t Ben Weiner)
- Applied Vol 3: provoking meaningful connections across the expansive environmental and life science sector – New York City, April 1st 7-9:30pm ET (h/t Justin Morris-Marano)
- SF Climate week April 21-27th
- German Biotechnology Days 2024 – April 16th and 17th, Berlin
- European Congress on Biotechnology June 30th – July 3, Rotterdam
Podcasts
- Catalyst – Sourcing Biomass for Carbon Removal
- Check out Grow Everything’s recent episodes focused on biomanufacturing
- Homeworld Advisor Drew Endy was recently on EBRC’s In Translation Podcast
Inspiration – Motivation through art and beauty
We believe in the power of our community, and our newsletter aims to showcase this. So many people are doing amazing work towards climate, sustainability, and planetary health. Thank you to everyone who submitted the ideas and inspirations which created this issue.
If you have any feedback, insight, or just want to say hello, please connect with us!
hello@homeworld.bio
@HomeworldBio
By The Homeworld Team