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Genetically engineering plants for disease resistance.
Pests and pathogens cost the world hundreds of billions of dollars every year. Existing technologies like agrochemicals are no longer working. Ohmic Biosciences uses protein engineering to design resistance genes for crops that are robust to pathogen evolution.
Ohmic Biosciences engineers proteins and applies synthetic biology to create durable disease resistance solutions for crops. They position their work as a versatile approach to address plant diseases across crops.
The company combines protein engineering and synthetic biology to develop durable disease resistance in crops, aiming to create solutions that can be applied across various plant diseases and crops.
Who it’s for: agriculture technology companies targeting crop protection and disease resistance; plant biotech researchers and farm/seed businesses seeking durable resistance solutions
I'm a protein engineer, synthetic biologist, and computer scientist. I studied computer science at MIT (SB/MEng) and then synthetic biology at Cambridge (PhD) and UCSD (postdoc). After two years as a scientist at Bolt Threads engineering yeast for protein production, I moved to the University of Colorado Boulder to work on a DARPA project using protein engineering to turn plants into chemical biosensors. My co-founder Matt and I founded Ohmic to make plants resistant to disease.
I'm a plant biochemist with experience in protein engineering, genetics and analytical chemistry. I studied Horticulture Science (BS), and then Plant Breeding, Genetics, and Biotechnology (PhD) at Michigan State where I characterized enzymes in tropane alkaloid production for nerve agent antidotes and stimulants (including cocaine). That work led me to a DARPA protein engineering project where I met my cofounder, PJ, and we decided to use our skills to tackle crop disease resistance.
We use protein engineering to create resistance traits for any disease in any plant.
Ohmic Biosciences engineers proteins to create disease-resistance traits in plants. Their first product targets soybean cyst nematode, aiming to reduce yield losses in the US; they position protein engineering as a way to design resistance traits rather than rely on natural variants or conventional agrochemicals.
From the original launch (Jul 2023) — may be outdated.
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