Later in the day, went across to IndieBio, described as the world’s first incubator for synthetic biology-based start-ups. We talked to Ryan Bethencourt, previously life sciences head at The X Prize Foundation, who noted that biology is “really exponential,” and to the founders of two start-ups: New Wave Foods and MycoWorks.
Here’s how IndieBio bill themselves:
“At Indie.bio, we’re committed to building a future where biology is not only a field of study, but a technology that will help solve our culture’s most challenging problems. From feeding a growing population, to providing energy and rare inputs for our increasingly connected economies, to treating or curing the maladies that limit or kill us, Synthetic Biology promises us solutions we’ve only dreamed of in the past.” And: “Independent biologists are now building tomorrow’s breakthrough biotech companies.”
Loved the spirit of New Wave Foods (“We disrupt food, not the oceans”) and MycoWorks. We heard from Dominique Barnes how New Wave started out focusing on mimicking shark-fin products, but switched to shrimp when they frenzied that the market was going to be constrained by the fact that such products are illegal in the US – limiting the potential for substitution. Shrimp, on the other hand, are mainstream and ecologically problematic.
Intriguingly, she was once a diver in a shark tank at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas, a micro-ocean in the middle of a desert.
Fascinating to hear about the expanding MycoWork product range, based on fungi. Co-founder Philip Ross told us that the average car has 200 pounds of polyurethane in it – materials which could be replaced by materials produced by fungi from agricultural waste. He also noted that some of their products can substitute leather, with fungi producing materials in 2-3 weeks, while a cow might take 2-3 years.
Walking back to the hotel, we passed a gallery in Geary Street where they are displaying a large metallic shark sculpture, combined with the firing mechanisms of a machine gun. Googling suggests that it is designed by Christopher Schultz.
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