Microbes ‘set to be an integral part of agriculture over the next 20-30 years’: Joyn Bio

The acceptance of the trendy microbiome diet among consumers has put wind in the sails of ag-biotech start up Joyn Bio, which is engineering microbes for more sustainable agriculture.

Crop plants of the future will fix nitrogen using synthetic biology

In 2018 we used an estimated 117 million tons of nitrogen in the form of fertilizers. The main source of this fertilizer is the Haber process, an industrial chemical reaction that takes place under high pressure and temperature, and requires the consumption of natural gas. Given that 78% of atmospheric air is molecular nitrogen, this seems like a terrible misuse of resources. The problem is that plants cannot use nitrogen directly from the atmosphere, but extract it from the soil in the form of nitrates or ammonia.

5 Innovations Changing the Future of Food

Microbes play a crucial role in farming—good bacteria can help plant growth, while bad fungi can decimate crops. Some companies are engineering microbes to both protect plants and enhance growth. “We’re really at a renaissance time for microbial products,” said Brynne Stanton, co-founder of Joyn Bio, at a panel about microbes at the summit.

Entrepreneurs hope microbes hold the key to a food revolution

Synthetic Biology Has Raised $12.4 Billion. Here Are Five Sectors It Will Soon Disrupt.

Biotechnology is accelerating. Nowhere is this more evident than in the frontier of synthetic biology, which views DNA as a programming language for creating new goods like petroleum-free plastics, spider silk jackets and perfumes with the aroma of extinct flowers.

Sustainable Ag Partnership

Joyn Bio signs $75M microbe licensing deal that could help Bayer

Through the partnership, Joyn Bio will get access to a catalog of thousands of different microbe strains, as well as NewLeaf’s manufacturing capabilities. The deal could significantly benefit Bayer AG, which owns 50 percent of Joyn Bio...

Joyn Bio Reaches Deal to Tap Into NewLeaf’s Plant Microbe Library

Joyn Bio, a biotech company developing microbes engineered for agricultural applications, is adding microbes from NewLeaf Symbiotics to its toolbox in an effort to get to market faster and expand the scope of its research.

The partnership announced Monday gives Joyn access to NewLeaf’s library of plant-colonizing microbes. Joyn, which is based in Boston and also has operations in Woodland, CA, will engineer these microbes to make disease and pest control products intended to help farmers reduce their reliance on crop chemicals. In the nearer term, the deal is expected to bolster Joyn’s research and development of nitrogen-fixing microbes. The companies estimate the alliance could reduce the time to market for these new microbes by two to three years.

Ginkgo, Bayer venture taps NewLeaf for plant microbes

Joyn Bio, a joint venture of Ginkgo Bioworks and agriculture giant Bayer, has brought on another partner in its quest to develop microbes that fix nitrogen for crops. It has turned to NewLeaf Symbiotics for its database of pink, methanol-munching, plant-colonizing organisms.

NewLeaf & Joyn Bio are Latest Biologics Startups to Partner on Microbes

Biologics hold substantial promise for a more sustainable food system, but with millions of microbes to sort through, startups are turning to partnerships to hunt for the most promising strains in the bacterial haystack.

This Company's GMOs Will Help Feed The World, Without Ever Being Eaten

When I wrote about genetically modified organisms (GMOs) a few months ago (Here's The Real Reason Why GMOs Are Bad, And Why They May Save Humanity, GMOs And The Dangers Of Politicizing Science), I had no idea that the reader response would be so swift and strong.

The Uncertain Future of Food

For the 55% of humans who live in cities, it can be easy to forget just how much of our planet is dedicated to agriculture. More than one-third of all the land on Earth is used to raise the food we eat, and of that, an area nearly the size of Australia is dedicated to growing cereal crops alone. As a species, we are nearly completely dependent on plants for our survival, which are in turn at the mercy of their environment — too much rain, too little sun, too many insects, or the arrival of a new virus can wipe out an entire harvest.

The newest food trend is in the ground

Farmers in the US Midwest, faced with a wet spring, saw their to-do lists lengthen and their time to get everything done shorten. The first week of May should have been the height of planting season. But at that point in Indiana, just a tiny fraction of farm fields had been planted.

Joyn Bio Joins Bayer Facility and Adds Reiter to Board

Ag-biotech company Joyn Bio has signed a long-term lease to locate its plant sciences team within Bayer’s Vegetable Seed Facility in Woodland, California to accelerate ongoing research. In addition, the company has appointed Bayer Head of Research and Development for Crop Science, Dr. Robert Reiter, to its board of directors.

Joyn Bio Opens California Facility To Test Its Engineered Microbes On Crop Growth

Joyn Bio, a joint agtech venture between synthetic biology company Ginkgo Bioworks and Bayer, plans to open a research facility in California to speed up the development of its engineered microbes. The aim: fix nitrogen in soil for wheat and corn fields, reducing or even eliminating the need for synthetic fertilizers.

Joyn Bio lands research lab space at Bayer campus near Woodland

The well-funded ag-tech startup Joyn Bio is expanding into research lab and office space owned by Bayer Group near Woodland.

At the end of June, Boston-based Joyn will move into 12,500 square feet of lab, office and greenhouse space on Bayer’s former Monsanto seeds research lab near Woodland, allowing Joyn’s West Coast team to expand.

Bioengineers Aim to Break Big Ag’s Addiction to Fertilizers

Designer microbes could replace the chemical fertilizers that contribute to climate change.

A new custom microbiome plant could help end the use of polluting fertilizer

A partnership between Bayer and organism design company Ginkgo Bioworks–the winner of the food category of Fast Company’s 2018 World Changing Ideas Awards–wants to create plants that don’t need energy-hungry, water-polluting nitrogen fertilizer

Joyn Bio formed to bring synthetic biology to agriculture

Joyn Bio was founded with the goal of bringing advanced techniques in synthetic biology to agriculture to support the industry’s sustainability efforts, starting with reducing the environmental impact of nitrogen fertilizer.

Joint venture with West Sacramento ties has new name

“Bayer’s newest biotech startup lab space dedicated to housing and fostering innovative ventures to transform modern agriculture.”

With designer bacteria, crops could one day fertilize themselves

“But these nitrogen-fixing microbes have been limited in what they can do by which plants' evolution has pushed them toward. We’re trying to change that.”

Bayer And Ginkgo Bioworks, A Startup, Aim To Make Crops Produce Their Own Nitrogen Fertilizer

German conglomerate Bayer, together with Boston biotech startup Ginkgo Bioworks, announced this morning that they’re creating a new company that could make it possible for crops like corn, wheat and rice to produce nitrogen fertilizer.