Woori Green Science, a subsidiary of Woori Bio, is partnering with Ayana Bio, a U.S.-based plant cell biotech company, to develop bio-materials using plant cells.
On the 25th, Woori Green Science announced that it signed a joint development agreement with Ayana Bio to develop and commercialize natural ingredient raw materials suitable for use in cosmetics, general foods, health functional foods, and beverages through plant cell culture.
The two companies plan to develop plant cell lines and mass cultivation technologies specialized in the large-scale production of functional bioactive substances such as lutein. Selected plant cell lines from Ayana Bio’s plant cell programming platform will be applied to Woori Green Science’s large-scale plant cell cultivation system for commercialization.
Woori Green Science is actively entering the emerging global plant cell bio foundry industry by applying advanced biotechnology to agricultural life resources to create new high value-added green bio industries.
Ayana Bio, headquartered in the U.S., was spun off from Ginkgo Bioworks, a synthetic biology platform company involved in the development of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine. It is a plant cell specialized development company with a platform capable of rapidly selecting the best plant cell lines. Recently, it launched plant cell-cultured lemon balm and echinacea extracts, the first of their kind in the U.S. market.
Woori Green Science, a company specializing in the development of functional ingredients for food and pharmaceuticals based on smart farms, is commercializing high value-added medicinal crops such as medical hemp, marigold, and veronica as individually recognized health functional food ingredients and pharmaceutical materials. It is also preparing to launch various functional ingredients applying liposome technology to enhance the bioavailability of functional substances.
Um Tae-wook, CEO of Woori Green Science, said, "The research and development of smart agricultural technology and the establishment of a natural raw material production system, which we have steadily pursued, have created an opportunity to collaborate with Ayana Bio." He added, "Through this agreement, we will secure new raw material supply methods for the production of high value-added bio-materials and enter the overseas raw material market."
Plant cell culture is gaining attention as an eco-friendly industry that can efficiently produce the same active ingredients contained in plants through the cultivation of plant cells without directly growing or harvesting plants from nature. Additionally, by applying high-precision cultivation technology to maximize active ingredients in a sterile cultivation environment, it is possible to continuously obtain consistent, high-quality clean raw materials, reducing dependence on traditional agriculture-based supply chains that face difficulties due to climate change and environmental pollution.
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