A co-created newsletter of resources and actions for climate biotech
Happy end-of-June!
First, some exciting news: WE’RE HIRING! Homeworld Collective is looking for a Science Director and a Scientist and Geobiotechnology Program Lead to help us continue growing the field of climate biotech.
Our team is thrilled to share this month’s issue of the Homeworld Confluence with you, which highlights:
- Open climate biotech jobs and opportunities for professorships, fellowships, lab biologists, and more
- In-person and online events focused on the intersection of climate and biology
- Relevant resources, innovations, and studies in climate biotech and related areas
- A sneak peek at our new podcast, The Climate Biotech Podcast!
- Microscopic — yet powerful — sources of inspiration in the forms of plants and fungi
And finally, we want to continue making this newsletter with you and your needs as a member of the climate biotech community in mind — would you please fill out this 4-question survey to help us understand your needs?
With love and action-oriented optimism,
The Homeworld Team
Jobs, Funding, & Opportunities
Funding & Opportunities
- Submit to the Creative Copper Recovery Open Call from BHP until 7/10 (h/t Monica Cesinger).
- Apply to become an ARPA-E Fellow by July 12.
- The AI for Climate and Nature Grand Challenge is accepting Phase 1 submissions until July 30.
- The Pathways to Enable Open-Source Ecosystems (POSE) program is accepting proposals until September 5.
- Thinking about marine carbon dioxide removal? Help the Ocean Visions team understand your biggest challenges to help direct community efforts where they’re most needed.
Job postings
- Homeworld Collective is looking for a Science Director and a Scientist and Geobiotechnology Program Lead | Remote
- Playground VC is hiring for a Decarbonization Associate | San Francisco, California
- Tufts University’s School of Biomedical Engineering is looking for a Professor of Cellular Agriculture | Medford, Massachusetts
- Pioneer Labs is engineering microbes for Mars — and they’re looking for a Bioinformatics Scientist and a Sr. Microbiology Research Associate | San Francisco, California
- CyanoCapture, a company using the forefront of bioengineering for carbon capture, is in search of a Molecular Biologist | Oxford, England
- Check out the Climate Biotech Jobs Board for even more job postings!
Research & News
Technical resources
- A new, accessible community bio lab space with classes, training, and equipment at a fraction of the cost — check out Cellsius! (h/t Elliot Roth)
- The CDR literature map by the State of Carbon Dioxide Removal team presents a global assessment of CDR and the gap left to close.
- The climate crisis needs everyone — this visually searchable climate finance tracker shows an ecosystem of over $230B in private investment and philanthropic grants to 6K+ U.S.-based companies and nonprofits working in climate mitigation and adaptation.
Innovations and Developments
- Kula Bio’s organic nitrogen biofertilizer is out on the market! (h/t Andrew Stewart)
- Outlier Projects is a new spinout from Additional Ventures that will continue AV’s support of carbon removal and will also support work in glacier stabilization and planetary cooling.
- Co-expression analysis reveals distinct alliances around two carbon fixation pathways in hydrothermal vent symbionts (h/t Derin Fasipe).
- Elanco announces the FDA completed reviewing a methane-reducing feed ingredient for the U.S. dairy industry (h/t Sudharsan Dwaraknath).
- A review of engineering polyextremophiles — organisms that push the limits of life
- NSF, NEH, and partner funding agencies across seven countries announced awardees for the 2023 International Joint Initiative for Research on Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation competition (h/t Nazish Jeffery).
- A team constructed a CRISPR-based gene drive system in plants that biases genetic inheritance by coupling it to pollen germination (h/t Vivian Zhong).
Climate Impact Studies
- It’s imperative that strategies to mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions must consider methane and nitrous oxide together, because the microbial processes governing their emissions are linked.
- Understanding the impacts of microbes in hydraulic fracturing can help minimize environmental, health, and economic risks of fracking (h/t Arjun Khakhar).
- Large, ball-shaped colonies of toxin-producing cyanobacteria — dubbed “sea tomatoes” by locals — are piling up on Arctic lake beds (h/t Monica Cesinger).
- Perspective on bottlenecks in bio-based plastics degradation for recycling and upcycling (h/t Derin Fasipe).
Blog Posts & Podcasts
“The benefit of using microorganisms is that they are present across vast landscapes. And we know that atmospheric methane removal and growth on atmospheric methane happens [in microbes]. …So, how do we harness that activity to speed it up? How can we bolster it? There’s some really good ideas around how to do that, and I think we’re getting some great technology started up.”
— Lisa Stein on the Climate Biotech Podcast, Ep. 2
“16% of human deaths globally are directly attributed to pollution today, and by 2050, 12% of radiative forcing will be due to industrial byproducts … but what if we lived in a world of perfect molecular information in which every molecule is accounted for and every downstream cascade is perfectly observable?”
— “Pollution Must Be a Pharma Problem” by Dan Goodwin
Have an idea you want to get off the ground? Two-pagers clearly convey a vision, a basic plan of execution, and the authenticity of the team as an efficient way to iterate towards a full proposal. They can help you refine your concept, resolve key questions, and give your network an easy and low-effort way to share your idea even further.
— “How to Grow an Idea with a Two-Pager” by the Homeworld Collective Team
Upcoming Events
- Align to Innovate’s Protein Engineering Tournament Community Discussion // 7/16, Online // Learn more (h/t Pete Kelly)
- Sensors in Agriculture 2024 // 7/17–7/18, Online // Learn more
- Gordon Research Conference on Biomineralization // 8/4–8/9, New London, New Hampshire // Learn more
- Geochemistry conference with a focus on ERW // 8/18–8/23, Online + Chicago, Illinois // Learn more
Inspiration – Motivation through art and beauty
- Don’t miss this stunning video of an embryonic root growing, followed by root hairs emerging and a close-up of cytoplasm streaming through the hairs.
- Josh McGinnis never fails to isolate fascinating fungi from seemingly unlikely sources — like a centipede.
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