The University of Wyoming finalises spin-out agreement with biomass startup Planktomics Algae Bioservices.
US-based biomass startup Planktomics Algae Bioservices (PAB) has signed a license agreement with the University of Wyoming (UW).
Under the terms of the agreement, PAB will have to right to develop and commercialise technologies designed to maximise algae growth developed at Wyoming for use in agricultural and industrial sectors, in return for an unspecified equity stake in the firm. PAB has filed five patents that control unwanted algae and low-cost biological harvesting methods of algal biomass.
PAB, led by principal partners and UW professors Stephen Herbert and Levi Lowder, will aim to serve small firms in order to fulfil their algae needs.
Herbert, who serves as PAB’s chief executive, said: “We’re here to solve problems for other companies that want to produce algae at large scales. We see our role as building up research capacity of these small companies that don’t have enough capacity for research.”
Lowder, Planktomics’ chief technology officer, added: “Our services are tailored to companies that want to outsource their biological studies or biological research. We don’t really produce the end products. We do the biology. You have to know how to grow algae. That’s where we come in, to figure out how to farm algae on a large scale (for other companies).”
