SBIR-STTR Award

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will demonstrate the technical feasibility of enhancing isoprenoid biosynthesis by mevalonate pathway addition to plastids of a eukaryotic model. Isoprenoids, as carotenoids, serve as natural colorants in plant products and also have a market as human dietary supplement. Increasing the output of carotenoids in cultivated plants and microalgae is of considerable interest as a way to provide these isoprenoids as natural products from renewable sources rather than from chemical synthesis. The commercial application of this project will be on the aquaculture and the ornamental horticulture industries

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project aims to develop and validate a novel chloroplast transformation vector for protein expression in chloroplasts. The research project will broaden scientific understanding of the parameters of chloroplast transformation by addressing stoichiometric expression of multiple transgenes for effective engineering of pathways such as carotenogenesis, feedback regulation and expression of multimeric proteins. The commercial impact of this technology will provide an enabling strategy for expression of genes of interest in chloroplasts to potentially increase the production of high value nutraceutical and pharmaceutical compounds. Application of this technology for stable, high output metabolism with regulatory compliance will reduce production cost and increase the reliability for downstream processing and eventual commercialization.