TeselaGen Biotechnology entered into a two-year contract with BioMADE, the Department of Defense-sponsored bioindustrial Manufacturing Innovation Institute, to improve the informatics infrastructure around fermentation-based biomanufacturing. As part of this collaboration, TeselaGen will develop novel technologies that standardize data exchange, connect disparate software systems, and establish secure protocols to facilitate collaboration on AI-enabled projects.
The technologies will be developed and validated in collaboration with MicroByre, and the Advanced Biofuels and Bioproducts Process Development Unit (ABPDU) of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in a real-world fermentation process for producing succinic acid from a waste biomass feedstock through commercial scale-up. BioMADE’s 100 member organizations will also gain access to TeselaGen’s technology.
“Collaboration between organizations is often challenged by data being stored in varied proprietary formats,” said Douglas Friedman, PhD, BioMADE CEO. “TeselaGen is working to address this challenge for technical data for fermentation processes by cultivating and validating standards for data exchange, and developing tools to make these standards easy to use. The bioindustrial manufacturing industry stands to benefit from this standardization and the shared tools to follow.”
Critical innovations are being developed
Several critical innovations or practices are being developed, according to Friedman. An open-source data exchange standard, based on current best practices, will be created to enable the easy exchange of fermentation process data independent of specific software platforms. The project will also demonstrate scalable API-driven interoperability based on an open-source tooling foundation, fully in the end-users’ control and providing connectivity between fermentations systems’ digital backbones and other API-driven systems, such as machine learning-based optimization algorithms.
Additionally, the collaborators will explore technologies for secure collaborative data analytics and machine learning that protects contributors’ intellectual property. This project builds on a current collaboration between the ABPDU and TeselaGen to improve data coordination in fermentation operations.
“BioMADE is emerging as a leading industry organization for the advancement of innovative biomanufacturing in the U.S.,” said Eduardo Abeliuk, PhD, TeselaGen CEO. “We are excited to partner with the organization and its rapidly growing membership to accelerate biomanufacturing, and expect this project to be the beginning of a long-term relationship.”
BioMADE’s mission is to enable domestic bioindustrial manufacturing at all scales, develop technologies to enhance U.S. bioindustrial competitiveness, de-risk investment in relevant infrastructure, and expand the biomanufacturing workforce to realize the economic promise of industrial biotechnology. The organization is an independent nonprofit, public-private partnership, and a member of the Manufacturing USA network.
