BP Alternative Energy Ventures and DSM Venturing B.V. have both invested in renewable fuel and chemical company Verdezyne. The two companies were part of a funding round that also included additional monies from existing investors OVP Venture Partners and Monitor Ventures. The announcement was made today during the BIO World Congress underway in Toronto. “We are thrilled to have these …
DSM CEO Wins George Washington Carver Award
Royal DSM Ceo Feike Sijbesma has received the George Washington Carver Award for Innovation in Industrial Biotechnology during BIO World Congress. In its 4th year, Sijbesma is being honored as a visionary leader of the bio-economy, an industry that the World Economic Forum projects will contribute nearly $250 billion to the world economy by 2020. Under his leadership, DSM has …
GreenField Ethanol Launches G2 BioChem
The World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioprocessing (BIO World Congress) kicked off this morning in Toronto, Canada with a bang. GreenField Ethanol, the largest producer of ethanol in Canada, announced the launch of G2 BioChem, a collaborative partnership that will validate and bring to commercialization GreenField’s innovative patented process technology. The partnership includes companies such as Novozymes and Andritz …
BIO World Congress Preview
The World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioprocessing, hosted by BIO, is set to begin on Sunday, May 8, 2011 in Toronto. A record crowd is expected and the exhibitor hall is sold out. I’ll be on site to bring you breaking news and information about the latest biotechnology trends as they relate to biofuels and biochemicals. To get a …
BioAmber Raises $45M to Grow Succinic Acid Platform
BioAmber Inc. has raised $45 million dollars in Series B financing with the monies used to accelerate the commercialization of succinic acid and modified PBS including the construction of a plant in North America. The round was led by NAXOS Capital Partners who helped to secure a new investor, Mitsui & Co. a Japanese trading company. The round was co-led …
Dyadic Netherlands Enters Research Agreement
Dyadic Netherlands, a subsidiary of Dyadic International, a company developing enzyme and protein products for several industries including the biofuels industry, has announced that they have entered into a research agreement with Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of sanofi-aventis Group, and EnGen Bio, Inc. As part of the agreement, Sanofi Pasteur will fund collaborative research at Dyadic Netherland’s research and …
Obama Sticks to His Guns on Biofuel Policy Support
President Obama is sticking to his guns in his support of biofuels, among other energy sources, as viable ways for America to reduce its dependence on foreign sources of oil. This morning, his administration released its plan for a comprehensive energy policy their report, “Blueprint For A Secure Energy Future.” As a result of the report, the biofuel and biotech …
Chemists Engineer Bacteria for Biofuels
Several chemists at the University of California, Berkeley have engineered bacteria for biofuels. More specifically, they have created bacteria that will churn out a gasoline-like biofuel at about 10 times the rate of competing microbes. The researchers believe this breakthrough could soon provide “green” gas. The research was published in the journal Nature Chemical Biology and authored by Assistant Professor …
Corn Farmers Working to Keep Americans Safe
Last Saturday, most Americans took a moment to remember those lost on 9-11. I was at the Iowa versus Iowa State football game when more than 70,000 fans spent a moment in silence to honor those who died. During this time I reflected on things that our country can do to keep Americans safe and one such action is to …
Biofuel, Biotech Companies Sequence Jatropha Genome
A company that breeds better seeds for biofuels has teamed up with a biotech company to sequence the jatropha genome … a plant touted as the possible future of biofuels feedstocks. Officials at SG Biofuels have announced that they and Life Technologies Corporation have completed sequencing the Jatropha curcas genome to 100x coverage, using the SOLiD™ 4.0 System by Life …