>FASTA_17
Nucleus Embryo, Amplifye enzymes, Loopt's mushroom coffins, Bio-vaults prove the simulation, Vivodyne to replace animal testing, Neuralink's competitors, Antheia to combat pharma's reliance on plants
>FASTA presents weekly short reads of the biotech ecosystem | Papers and patents, acquisitions and bankruptcies, biotech philosophy as dessert | Read in under 5 min | Emails every Wednesday | LinkedIn and X all day.
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Nucleus Genomics launched Nucleus Embryo, “the first-ever genetic optimization software” for couples using IVF. Tech-bros celebrated a new era of genomics, bio-gals worried about a eugenic slippery slope. Read til the end to get my 3 cents on the marketing, science, and philosophy.
Digestiva launched Amplifye, a consumer biotech brand commercializing P24 enzyme capsules for amplified protein absorption. The brand is being led by former CEO of the now-bankrupt Amyris. What might he be doing differently this time? I sneaked into their patents and papers to find out. Read til the end…
Loop biotech’s mushroom coffins. While Silicon Valley is trying to escape death, our Dutch friends are resignifying it. The Loop Living Cocoon™ is made out of mushroom species local to the Netherlands and upcycled hemp fibers. It’s grown in 7 days and biodegrades in 45 days — Now I am really curious to know who their user personas are… Andy, the hippie who loves shrooms and wants their souls to merge with mother nature, perhaps?
Protein vaults make me consider we are living in a simulation. Vaults are the most massive and among the most abundant particles made naturally by human cells, but their function remains a mystery. The guy who discovered them launched Vault Pharma (sickest name for a pharma co ever), where they produce recombinant vaults and use them to load viral and bacterial antigens, like the gag-1 HIV envelope or larger peptides like CCL21 or NY-ESO-1 — And yes, I find it easier to think of simulation over evolution when looking at these nano-machines. I should write an essay on it and call it “wtf biology”.
Vivodyne raises $40M to replace animal testing. Their robotics platform grows thousands of human tissues daily, and generates clinically predictive human datasets using AI. Regulations are sure to favor them, as the FDA recently announced they’re moving away from animal models for new drug applications of monoclonal antibodies.
Neuralink raised a $650M Series E and launched clinical trials. Neurotech consultant Sam Hosovsky thinks BCI companies should focus more on material science than robotics. While Neuralink needed to build a robot to implant 64 rigid threads to get 1024 channels, Axoft uses a 1000x softer fluorinated elastomer array allowing a human neurosurgeon to insert the same 1024 channels at a similar immune response.
Antheia raised $56M in a Series C to produce pharma ingredients in yeast. They’ve also closed two recent deals with the BioMaP Consortium, valued at $23M — This science has been here for decades. However, it is only when the (geo)political, economic, and cultural stars align at a common and pressing need — in this case, reducing 40% global reliance on plant-based pharma ingredients — that such science can begin to serve billions.
A magnified look at Amplify
Amplifye is a brand extending from Digestiva, an enzymes company cofounded by UC Davis researchers and led by former CEO of Amyris, John Melo. Among other potential applications they’ve previously explored in wine and pharma, Amplifye is now commercializing a consumer biotech product: P24 enzyme capsules for amplified (potentially 2x) protein absorption.
P24 is a naturally occurring peptidase part of the S53 family discovered by Japanese scientists a while ago. Digestiva now produces it recombinantly through E. Coli, and leverages its proteolytic activity to eliminate the need for further chromatography-based purification. Interestingly, they’re biomanufacturing it in India! — Does this say anything about the US’s limited bioscaling capabilities? India’s low biomanufacturing costs and sufficient workforce? Something else?
Though they haven’t published data on human studies yet, their 2024 paper reports increased hydrolysis of different kinds of proteins with P24, especially in the gastric phase, following the INFOGEST 2.0 protocol (where the 2x claim comes from). It’s worth considering that this is not representative of muscle protein synthesis though. More studies needed on that.
Lastly, while the paper largely emphasized the potential of P24 for plant-based proteins, their branding strategy was rather: “Amplifye every protein”. Warm colors, meat images — Makes me wonder whether their decision not to target vegetarians exclusively, and instead build a brand for the gym bros, was based only on market size and growth.
My 3¢ on Nucleus Embryo
First, the controversial announcement included words like longevity and IQ, claiming Nucleus Embryo allows parents to select for those traits. From a marketing lens, it’s obvious how brilliant this strategy was. They spoke to their Silicon Valley early adopters and, well, turned all the hate into free marketing.
Scientifically speaking, of course, intelligence cannot be distilled down to genes. Even if we spoke health only, genomes are more like networks than we like to admit. While we may be able to select against rare diseases by choosing the embryo without this or that SNP, others are not only polygenic but highly ‘environmental’ too. Job ain’t done at the embryo, we need to study the womb.
Last but not least, you can call me unethical, but I am a firm non-believer in the usefulness of the question “should we?”. We exist within a system1. Today, more than ever, we are reminded that economics, politics, and culture influence science as much as science influences them. So if you didn’t like what you saw, ask yourself how we should adjust these levers for a different future to flourish.
Listen to this episode of the Grow Everything Podcast featuring Christina Agapakis, especially minutes 22:06 to 25:12 and 15:15 to 19:24.