Grow Everything Biotech Podcast
Alle afleveringen
207 afleveringen, van nieuw naar oud
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205. The Sweet Taste of Negative Waste: Max Kufner Ferments Carbon Waste at Again
30 oktober 2026 · 53 min
What does it take to turn industrial carbon dioxide into useful chemicals at a price the market will accept? On Grow Everything, Karl Schmieder and Erum Azeez Khan speak with Max Kufner, cofounder and CEO of Again, about using gas fermentation to make acetate and other products from industrial emissions. Max explains why feedstock economics and locating production close to customers matter, what the acquisition of Genomatica brings to Again, and why real production data is essential for predicting whether a bioprocess can work at industrial scale. He also shares how customer demand, licensing, project finance, and partnerships can help move biotechnology from the lab into the real world. Before the interview, the hosts explore an AI assisted biomanufacturing class and the latest discussion around deextinction. Lees meer
Grow Everything brings the bioeconomy to life. Hosts Karl Schmieder and Erum Azeez Khan share stories and speak with the leaders and innovators using biology to change the world. Biology is the world’s oldest technology, and it can be engineered. So, what are we growing?
Learn more at www.messaginglab.com/groweverything
Chapters:
(00:00:00) - Biology, public engagement, and biomanufacturing education
(00:05:00) - AI agents and cell free protein experiments
(00:10:00) - Deextinction, the moa, and biotechnology
(00:15:00) - Max Kufner on turning carbon dioxide into chemicals
(00:20:00) - From venture capital to building Again
(00:26:00) - Industrial bioreactors and manufacturing at the source
(00:32:00) - Financing biotechnology scale with customer partnerships
(00:38:00) - Building biomanufacturing facilities in the US and Europe
(00:44:00) - Climate tech quick fire: engineers, finance, and teamwork
(00:50:00) - Founder takeaways: customer demand and cost parity
Links and Resources:
Again Bio.
Max Kufner LinkedIn
Startup, Again: Turning CO₂ Emissions into Carbon-negative Chemicals
Again acquires Geno to combin…
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204. Moore's Law Than Meets the Eye: Michael Wright's Blueprint at Biomimetics International
23 oktober 2026 · 1 uur 14 min
Michael Wright, founder of Biomimetics International, joins Grow Everything to explain how learning from nature can reshape the way we design products, build businesses, and scale emerging industries. Drawing on decades in semiconductors and high technology, he describes biomimetics as learning from nature’s tested systems, from burr inspired Velcro to shark skin that reduces drag, while emphasizing that copying a biological function is not enough if a product cannot return safely to the biosphere. He introduces the Biosverse, nature’s third number, and generational cost of ownership as ways to account for environmental liabilities that traditional business models may overlook. The conversation explores how digital and biological systems converge, why biotech can learn from semiconductor standards and roadmaps, how AI might benefit from a more nurturing and accountable design approach, and why leaders should ask, “Do you know what you do does?” Michael’s vision is a mindset shift that brings nature into the design process before we build, then measures whether innovations can serve communities and remain compatible with the living world. Lees meer
Grow Everything brings the bioeconomy to life. Hosts Karl Schmieder and Erum Azeez Khan share stories and speak with the leaders and innovators using biology to change the world. Biology is the world’s oldest technology, and it can be engineered. So, what are we growing?
Learn more at www.messaginglab.com/groweverything
Chapters:
(00:00:00) Grow Everything opening and biotech headlines, from fall foliage to food systems for Mars
(00:07:00) FDA inspections, peptide manufacturing, and the importance of knowing where products come from
(00:14:00) Michael Wright’s semiconductor career and the path to biomimetics
(00:21:00) How digital and biological systems converge, from precision agriculture to digital water
(00:28:00) The Biosverse, biosphere compatibility, …
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203. The Valley of Do: Karl & Erum Orchestrate Bio-Ecosystems at Bioinnovations Conference
16 oktober 2026 · 49 min
At Bio Innovations in Omaha and an adjacent investor gathering in Houston, Grow Everything hosts Karl Schmieder and Erum Azeez Khan unpack the shift reshaping the bioeconomy: scientific discovery is becoming faster and less expensive, while deployment, scale up, and durable partnerships have become the real competitive advantage. They share conversations from the conference floor on the missing middle between bench science and commercial production, the Midwest’s feedstock and infrastructure advantage, the need for early technoeconomic discipline, and how corporates can give innovators clearer demand and specification targets. From pilot facilities and downstream processing to waste to value opportunities and resilient domestic supply chains, this recap maps the practical work required to turn biological innovation into products that matter. Lees meer
Grow Everything brings the bioeconomy to life. Hosts Karl Schmieder and Erum Azeez Khan share stories and speak with the leaders and innovators using biology to change the world. Biology is the world’s oldest technology, and it can be engineered. So, what are we growing?
Learn more at www.messaginglab.com/groweverything
Chapters:
(00:00:00) Halloween, food dyes, and a motel room microbiology discovery
(00:05:29) The fire microbe and the promise of extremophiles for manufacturing
(00:07:46) AI agents, scientific discovery, and physical laboratories
(00:14:43) Bio Innovations recap: Omaha infrastructure meets Houston capital
(00:18:00) Discovery is cheaper, but deployment is the whole game
(00:22:24) The missing middle: pilots, ecosystems, and the valley of do
(00:26:45) Business models, corporate demand clarity, and consumer framing
(00:34:40) Scale up lessons: feasibility, downstream processing, and tech transfer
(00:42:28) Waste to value, bioeconomic resilience, and what comes next
Links and Resources:
Bioinnovations
Steve Bray - TritenIAG
Philli…
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202. Setting Sail for Biotech Scale: Jenny Rooke Steers Innovators at Genoa Venture
9 oktober 2026 · 54 min
Genoa Ventures founder and managing director Jenny Rooke joins Karl Schmieder and Erum Azeez to explore bioconvergence, the expanding frontier where biology meets AI, automation, materials science, and real world business building. Drawing on her journey from physics and genetics to venture capital, Jenny explains why durable bio based companies must pair novel science with clear customer demand, disciplined scale up, and a path to meaningful commercial value. The conversation examines lessons from early synthetic biology, the realities of biomanufacturing at scale, next generation clinical assessment tools, and why founders working between traditional tech and biotech categories need investors who understand both. Lees meer
Grow Everything brings the bioeconomy to life. Hosts Karl Schmieder and Erum Azeez Khan share stories and speak with the leaders and innovators using biology to change the world. Biology is the world’s oldest technology, and it can be engineered. So, what are we growing?
Learn more at www.messaginglab.com/groweverything
Chapters:
(00:00:00) Climate Week, bioliteracy, and biology as a climate solution
(00:03:00) America’s Living Library Act and the case for sampling public lands
(00:07:00) State microbes, public engagement, and the future of bioliteracy
(00:10:00) Erum’s biomanufacturing course and designing food safe colors
(00:15:00) Introducing Jenny Rooke and Genoa Ventures
(00:17:00) From physics and genetics to investing in science based companies
(00:20:00) The Genoa sail: founder autonomy, trust, and avoiding fatal mistakes
(00:22:00) What defines a bioconvergence company
(00:24:00) Why biotechnology needs a broader frame than pharma
(00:26:00) Lessons from synthetic biology’s first wave and the impact of AI
(00:28:00) Matching company timelines to biology, markets, and venture returns
(00:29:00) The future of clinical assessment tools and actionable health data
(00:…
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201. Out of Cell Experience: Michael Heltzen Drives Pure Chemistry at eXoZymes
2 oktober 2026 · 50 min
Michael Heltzen, CEO of Exozymes, joins Grow Everything to explain how cell free biomanufacturing is opening new possibilities for natural products, nutraceuticals, and medicines. Michael shares why engineered enzymes can make high purity molecules without relying on living cells, how Exozymes moved its NCT program from discovery toward commercial manufacturing in less than two years, and why its capital light partnership model is central to scaling impact. The conversation also explores AI guided enzyme design, digital twins for manufacturing, rare cannabinoids, downstream processing, and the disciplined focus required to turn a broad biotechnology platform into real products. Lees meer
Grow Everything brings the bioeconomy to life. Hosts Karl Schmieder and Erum Azeez Khan share stories and speak with the leaders and innovators using biology to change the world. Biology is the world’s oldest technology, and it can be engineered. So, what are we growing?
Learn more at www.messaginglab.com/groweverything
Chapters:
(00:00:00) Michael Heltzen and the Exozymes mission
(00:05:00) Why cell free manufacturing can unlock inaccessible natural products
(00:10:00) Combining molecular biology, computation, and AI guided enzyme design
(00:15:00) From laboratory platform to industrial scale production
(00:20:00) Commercial partnerships and the NCT market opportunity
(00:25:00) Rare cannabinoids and a new toolkit for medicinal chemistry
(00:30:00) The capital light licensing model for biomanufacturing
(00:35:00) Downstream processing, purity, and investor skepticism
(00:40:00) The future of sustainable enzyme driven chemical manufacturing
(00:45:00) Key takeaways on focus, partnerships, and platform innovation
Links and Resources:
eXoZymes
eXoZymes Awarded $2 Million NIH Grant to Advance Cannabinoid Analogs for Drug Discovery
eXoZymes’ Cell-Free Biomanufacturing Platform Gets Positive Feedback from Cayman …
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200. That's One Cell of a Machine: Jason Kelly of Gingko Automates Labs to Accelerate Discovery
25 september 2026 · 1 uur 29 min
For the 200th episode of Grow Everything, Karl Schmieder and Erum Azeez Khan talk with Jason Kelly, co-founder and CEO of Ginkgo Bioworks and former chair of the US National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology, about why biology is still so hard to engineer. Jason explains why a cell is the only coded substrate we have besides a computer, why the real bottleneck is tooling rather than ideas, and why Ginkgo moved from royalty based research partnerships to selling robotic hardware and lab data as a service. Using a subway, car and Waymo analogy, he separates automation from autonomy and makes the case for replacing the manual lab bench, which eats roughly 97 percent of research spending while running 40 hours out of 168. He walks through Ginkgo's Boston system of 105 robots running 24/7, new autonomous labs for MIT, Caltech, Northwestern and the University of Maryland, and the OpenAI project where GPT-5 ran 30,000 experiments a week and beat state of the art in cell free protein synthesis by 40 percent. He also lays out the policy stakes as drug discovery shifts to China, and why the day biology becomes predictably easier to engineer, biotech gets bigger than tech. Lees meer
Grow Everything brings the bioeconomy to life. Hosts Karl Schmieder and Erum Azeez Khan share stories and speak with the leaders and innovators using biology to change the world. Biology is the world’s oldest technology, and it can be engineered. So, what are we growing?
Learn more at www.messaginglab.com/groweverything
Chapters:
(00:00:00) A cell is a machine that can do a million other things
(00:07:00) AI data centers, contamination, and the waste to value opportunity
(00:14:00) Biosecurity, guardrails, and who is accountable for AI in biology
(00:21:00) Ginkgo's mission: programming a computer you did not design
(00:28:00) Why Ginkgo reset its business model from royalties to tools and data
(00:34:00) Subway, car, Way…
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199. Space, the Final Fermenter: Mario Maggio Brews Biology in Orbit with Ambrosia Space
18 september 2026 · 49 min
Biology may be the most important technology we take off planet, and Mario Maggio is building the hardware to prove it. The founder and CEO of Ambrosia Space joins Erum Azeez Khan and Karl Schmieder to explain why space bioprocessing has been stuck at 10 to 20 milliliters while bench scientists on Earth work at 250 milliliters and beyond, and what changes when a two and a half liter fed batch bioreactor with pH, dissolved oxygen, and total cell density sensors finally flies. Mario traces his path from aerospace propulsion and the Nova C lunar lander at Intuitive Machines to life support systems at Paragon and Axiom Space, and the realization that biology is the best CO2 scrubber, oxygen source, and chemical factory available for long duration missions where petroleum, farms, and easy resupply do not exist. The conversation digs into the engineering reality of fluids and gas in microgravity, why glass and ceramics never fly, the stainless steel and aluminum builds that replace them, the intentional and unintentional bacteria that come with building a bioreactor from scratch, and the NASA TechLeap winning CellSep continuous flow centrifuge that carries cells and secreted products into downstream processing without gravity. Mario also lays out the near term commercial case, from protein crystallization and monoclonal antibodies that behave differently in orbit to biofuels, vitamin production, medicines, and the big silver tanks that will feed astronauts because there will be no farms or cattle. He offers a candid read on artificial gravity gradients, why the Moon matters for building large vehicles in space, and why the same hardware that grows yeast for beer on Mars becomes the root of better biomanufacturing on Earth. Erum and Karl open with field notes from Bio Innovations North America in Omaha, including Midwest feedstock advantage, consortia momentum, the 30 percent of cost hiding in downstream processing, and why Smucker and Mars are actively scouting biotech i… Lees meer
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198. A Grain of Truth: Chef Pierre Thiam Scaled Fonio Without Losing Its Roots
11 september 2026 · 1 uur 3 min
Chef and entrepreneur Pierre Thiam joins Grow Everything to explain how fonio, a resilient ancient grain from West Africa, can become a platform for biodiversity, regenerative agriculture, food security, and farmer prosperity. Pierre traces his journey from studying physics and chemistry to discovering the kitchen as a larger system connecting culture, health, ecology, and economics. He shares why fonio is nutritionally dense, gluten free, drought resistant, fast cooking, and versatile, as well as how Yolélé is building aggregation centers and modern processing infrastructure while keeping cultivation knowledge and ownership with smallholder farming communities. The conversation explores how biotechnology can complement biodiversity, why flavor must lead climate friendly food adoption, how underutilized crops can create clean label ingredients and new commercial markets, and why food can serve as a powerful tool for diplomacy and cultural understanding. For founders, scientists, investors, and builders in the bioeconomy, Pierre offers a human centered model of innovation that begins with nature, respects generational knowledge, and uses technology to unlock solutions that have been in front of us all along. Lees meer
Grow Everything brings the bioeconomy to life. Hosts Karl Schmieder and Erum Azeez Khan share stories and speak with the leaders and innovators using biology to change the world. Biology is the world’s oldest technology, and it can be engineered. So, what are we growing?
Learn more at www.messaginglab.com/groweverything
Chapters:
(00:00:00) Why flavor must lead sustainable food adoption
(00:07:00) Artificial intelligence for science and protein design
(00:14:00) Pierre Thiam connects cooking, chemistry, culture, and diplomacy
(00:21:00) What fonio tastes like and why chefs love its versatility
(00:28:00) Scaling fonio through farmer centered supply chains and global markets
(00:35:00) Hum…
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197. What’s in Your Cart? A Grocery Store Walkthrough of Next-Gen Food Innovation
4 september 2026 · 16 min
Food technology is moving from farms and petrochemicals into bioreactors, fungi, engineered crops, and circular feedstocks. In this Grow Everything highlights episode, Erum Azeez and Karl Schmieder visit six stops across the grocery store to explore sweet proteins from Oobli, fermentation derived colorants from MycoFutures and Chromologics, the antioxidant rich purple tomato from Norfolk Healthy Produce, fungi based proteins from The Better Meat Co. and MyForest Foods, sargassum derived ingredients from Origin by Ocean, and the hard commercial work of getting emerging products onto retail shelves. For founders, scientists, investors, and builders across synthetic biology and sustainable materials, the central lesson is clear: fermentation is manufacturing, environmental problems can become valuable feedstocks, and biology wins when performance, taste, branding, and price are better for the customer. Lees meer
Grow Everything brings the bioeconomy to life. Hosts Karl Schmieder and Erum Azeez Khan share stories and speak with the leaders and innovators using biology to change the world. Biology is the world’s oldest technology, and it can be engineered. So, what are we growing?
Learn more at www.messaginglab.com/groweverything
Chapters:
(00:00:00) Food technology innovations hidden across the grocery store
(00:01:57) Why fermentation should be understood as manufacturing
(00:03:02) Oobli sweet proteins replace sugar with tiny amounts of protein
(00:04:35) Fermentation creates powerful natural colors for food brands
(00:06:20) The purple tomato brings biotechnology into the produce aisle
(00:08:11) The Better Meat Co. grows nutrient rich mycoprotein in bioreactors
(00:09:54) MyForest Foods turns oyster mushroom mycelium into bacon
(00:11:15) Origin by Ocean transforms invasive sargassum into useful ingredients
(00:12:34) Startup CPG explains what gets emerging brands onto shelves
(00:13:50) Why biolo…
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196. Beyond the Red Tape: Greg Jaffe on Policy as an Accelerator for Bio-Innovation
28 augustus 2026 · 56 min
Biotech is moving fast, but regulation, public trust, and infrastructure still shape how quickly new ideas reach the market. In this episode of Grow Everything, Greg Jaffe joins Karl Schmieder to explore the regulatory future of the bioeconomy, drawing on Greg’s experience in environmental law, consumer advocacy, and as the USDA’s chief regulatory officer. They discuss why founders need to think about regulatory strategy early, how production methods, product claims, and intended use can dramatically change the path through agencies like USDA, EPA, and FDA, and why clear oversight can help build the trust emerging technologies need to scale. Greg and Karl also examine the regional nature of biomanufacturing, the importance of rural infrastructure and local partnerships, and why the future of the bioeconomy will require coordinated policy, stronger market demand, international access, and regulatory pathways that support innovation while protecting public confidence. Lees meer
Grow Everything brings the bioeconomy to life. Hosts Karl Schmieder and Erum Azeez Khan share stories and speak with the leaders and innovators using biology to change the world. Biology is the world’s oldest technology, and it can be engineered. So, what are we growing?
Learn more at www.messaginglab.com/groweverything
Chapters:
(00:00:00) Intro: Moderna cancer vaccine news, Sargassum in Miami, and K18’s viral hairball activation
(00:13:00) Greg Jaffe’s path from environmental law to biotech policy
(00:16:30) Why the coordinated framework for biotechnology still matters
(00:20:00) What biotech startups need to understand about USDA, EPA, and FDA
(00:25:15) How claims, intent, and language can change a regulatory pathway
(00:28:15) Why public trust is essential for biomanufactured food and biotech products
(00:31:30) How biotech regulation differs in the United States, Africa, and Southeast Asia
(00:35:20) Why biomass and bioma…
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195. Because You’re Worth Biology: Olivier Rolland Talks Biotech at L’Oréal
21 augustus 2026 · 1 uur 11 min
Industrial biotechnology has enormous potential to create resilient supply chains, high performance ingredients, and a more sustainable bioeconomy, but good science alone is not enough. In this episode of Grow Everything, Karl and Erum speak with Olivier Rolland about the economic and industrial realities of scaling biology. Drawing on his experience across Michelin, TotalEnergies, Toulouse White Biotechnology, and L’Oréal, Olivier explains why biotech ventures must align sustainability, performance, cost, and customer expectations from the beginning. The conversation explores how techno economic analysis, early process constraints, industrial partnerships, standardization, and supportive policy can reduce risk and move promising molecules from the laboratory into commercial production. Olivier also discusses the biomanufacturing investment gap in Europe, the importance of resilient value chains, the limits of direct fossil replacements, and the opportunity to develop new molecules that deliver the same or better functions by design. Lees meer
Grow Everything brings the bioeconomy to life. Hosts Karl Schmieder and Erum Azeez Khan share stories and speak with the leaders and innovators using biology to change the world. Biology is the world’s oldest technology, and it can be engineered. So, what are we growing?
Learn more at www.messaginglab.com/groweverything
Chapters:
(00:00:00): Music festivals, Mike Levin, and consciousness at every scale
(00:07:00): Biotech news, Houston biomanufacturing, and the Michelin Guide analogy
(00:14:00): Genome astrology, ingredient transparency, and food regulation
(00:21:00): Olivier Rolland on L’Oréal, Scope 3 emissions, water, and resilient supply chains
(00:28:00): Finding the sweet spot between performance, economics, and sustainability
(00:35:00): Techno economic analysis, retrofit constraints, and industrial partnerships
(00:42:00): Europe’s scale up funding gap…
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194. Beauty Is in the AI of the Beholder: Debut’s Joshua Britton Turns Claims into Molecules
14 augustus 2026 · 1 uur 13 min
Joshua Britton, founder and CEO of Debut, joins Erum Azeez Khan and Karl Schmieder to explain why the future of molecular creation belongs to AI and biotechnology. Joshua shares how watching biologists create complex natural molecules in days inspired his shift from traditional chemistry and shaped Debut’s vertically integrated model for discovering, manufacturing, formulating, and commercializing high performance beauty ingredients. The conversation explores why technical breakthroughs alone do not build durable biotech businesses, how consumer demand and measurable performance should guide discovery, and why formulation, supply chains, scientific communication, and brand education are essential to commercialization. Joshua also describes how Debut uses computational models to screen vast chemical spaces, validates promising candidates in the lab, balances fast internal innovation with longer corporate partnerships, and prepares brands for regulatory changes affecting familiar cosmetic ingredients. For founders, scientists, investors, and operators building the bioeconomy, this episode offers a practical playbook for turning biological innovation into products consumers understand, trust, and choose. Lees meer
Grow Everything brings the bioeconomy to life. Hosts Karl Schmieder and Erum Azeez Khan share stories and speak with the leaders and innovators using biology to change the world. Biology is the world’s oldest technology, and it can be engineered. So, what are we growing?
Learn more at www.messaginglab.com/groweverything
Chapters:
(00:00:00) Biology, beauty, and the battle between performance and chemistry
(00:07:00) Bio dyes, consumer perception, and why color changes experience
(00:14:00) Joshua Britton’s path from organic chemistry to biotechnology
(00:21:00) Why Debut chose vertical integration and consumer led discovery
(00:28:00) Formulation failures that reshaped Debut’s commercial strateg…
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193. The Full Color Spectrum: Nick Milne Ferments One Pathway for Every Color at Octarine Bio
7 augustus 2026 · 54 min
Nick Milne, founder of Octarine Bio, joins Grow Everything to unpack how biology can reshape the future of color. In this episode, Nick explains why synthetic dyes have dominated textiles for more than a century, why sustainability alone is not enough to drive adoption, and how Octarine is building bio based pigments that can compete on performance, price, and scale. The conversation explores the environmental and human health problems tied to petrochemical dyes, especially azo dyes used in polyester, while showing how precision fermentation can create high strength pigments that work as drop in replacements for existing dye house workflows. Nick also shares how Octarine thinks about scale up, regulatory pressure in Europe, investor expectations, product development, and the practical realities of bringing biotech products into old and highly cost sensitive industries. Lees meer
Grow Everything brings the bioeconomy to life. Hosts Karl Schmieder and Erum Azeez Khan share stories and speak with the leaders and innovators using biology to change the world. Biology is the world’s oldest technology, and it can be engineered. So, what are we growing?
Learn more at www.messaginglab.com/groweverything
Chapters:
(00:00:00) Nick previews Octarine’s high strength pigment platform
(00:00:23) Karl and Erum open with science policy, AI, biosecurity, and discovery in nature
(00:12:18) Introducing Nick Milne and Octarine Bio’s mission to rewrite color with biology
(00:14:03) Why biology can outperform chemistry in rare but powerful commercial use cases
(00:16:21) The slow shift from petrochemical dyes to bio based alternatives in textiles
(00:18:31) What Pure Palette looks like as a drop in replacement for synthetic dyes
(00:20:13) Octarine’s color pipeline, from purple and black to green, blue, red, and yellow
(00:21:39) How stronger pigments create a path toward price parity for textile customers
(00:28:13) Why…
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192. Reading Between the Dyes: Roya Aghighi Unlocks Biological Pigments at Lite-1
31 juli 2026 · 1 uur 1 min
Have you ever wondered why the color in your clothes can be so harmful to the environment? In this episode of the Grow Everything Podcast, Karl and Erum continue their BioDye series with Roya Aghighi, founder of Lite-1. Roya grew up in her mother’s fashion studio and later worked in the industry testing new materials, but she decided to leave after seeing the pollution caused by traditional dyeing methods. She explains how Lite-1 uses engineered microbes to produce colorful pigments through fermentation, beginning with black, one of the most difficult and damaging colors to make sustainably. Roya also discusses why natural variation in biology can be useful rather than a problem, and why the biggest challenge facing biological dyes may be getting brands and investors to share the risks of developing them. She predicts that color could eventually become an important tool for tracking a garment throughout its life. Before the interview, Karl and Erum also discuss radiation-loving microbes, cuts to pathogen testing, and organisms designed with the help of computers. Lees meer
Grow Everything brings the bioeconomy to life. Hosts Karl Schmieder and Erum Azeez Khan share stories and speak with the leaders and innovators using biology to change the world. Biology is the world’s oldest technology, and it can be engineered. So, what are we growing?
Learn more at www.messaginglab.com/groweverything
Chapters:
(00:00:00) Biology as a technology and why textile dye is so harmful
(00:05:00) Microbe expeditions, Bikini Atoll, and a Cyclospora outbreak
(00:10:30) Cuts to pathogen monitoring and organisms designed with computers
(00:16:40) Meet Roya Aghighi, from growing up in a fashion studio to founding a biotech company
(00:22:45) How Lite-1 uses fermentation to create a more sustainable black dye
(00:28:30) Why biological variation can be useful information
(00:34:30) Focusing on performance, testing, and regener…
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191. Beyond the Lab Bench: Karl & Erum on Human Connections as the Ultimate Biotech Moat
24 juli 2026 · 1 uur 7 min
With Episode 200 coming up, Karl and Erum switch roles and interview each other the way they usually interview their guests. Karl shares why he decided not to become a doctor, how interviewing bands in college taught him to connect with anyone, and what he learned about storytelling during a decade in public relations before starting Messaging Lab. Erum talks about her unexpected path from studying forensic chemistry and working in pharmaceutical labs to executive coaching, joining a startup accelerator on a ship traveling around the world, and working in energy policy from the Navajo Nation to Brussels. They also discuss what waiting tables taught them about sales and humility, why early-stage startups should sometimes stay quiet until they have real traction, and why strong relationships are something AI cannot replace. Along the way, they revisit favorite moments from past guests, including Vishaal Bhuyan, Casey Lardner, Glennis Mehra, Linnea Fletcher, Elizabeth Hénaff, Phil Morle, Michael Specter, and Sabriya Stukes. Their conversation is a reminder that there is no single path into the bioeconomy. Lees meer
Grow Everything brings the bioeconomy to life. Hosts Karl Schmieder and Erum Azeez Khan share stories and speak with the leaders and innovators using biology to change the world. Biology is the world’s oldest technology, and it can be engineered. So, what are we growing?
Learn more at www.messaginglab.com/groweverything
Chapters:
(00:00:00) Karl and Erum interview each other ahead of Episode 200
(00:06:45) Erum’s experience building a startup at sea with the Unreasonable Institute
(00:13:30) Genspace’s Break Into Biotech program and lessons from college
(00:19:58) Leaving the pharmaceutical lab for positive psychology and executive coaching
(00:26:40) What working in restaurants teaches about sales, empathy, and humility
(00:33:20) How energy and water policy work with the Navajo Nation shaped…
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190. Pour Some Sugar on Yeast: Lisa Roessler Scales Biology at Amyris
17 juli 2026 · 1 uur 1 min
Lisa Ressler has spent more than 35 years working in science-based businesses, including DuPont and Evonik, and now serves as Chief Commercial Officer at Amyris. In this conversation, she joins Karl and Erum to discuss where Amyris stands today, what the company learned from Chapter 11, and why returning its focus to B2B science was the right move. Lisa explains the company’s 1.5 million-liter fermentation facility in Barra Bonita, Brazil, its partnership with Wacker to develop bio-based personal care ingredients, and the simple framework she uses to decide which markets are worth pursuing. She also shares what it takes for a bio-based ingredient to move beyond higher “green” pricing and reach large-scale commercial use, making the case that strong performance is ultimately what convinces customers. Lees meer
Grow Everything brings the bioeconomy to life. Hosts Karl Schmieder and Erum Azeez Khan share stories and interview the leaders and influencers changing the world by growing everything. Biology is the oldest technology. And it can be engineered. What are we growing?
Learn more at www.messaginglab.com/groweverything
Chapters:
(00:00:00) - Introduction and catching up after the Fourth of July
(00:05:00) - Soil health, regenerative agriculture, and current biotech trends
(00:10:00) - Biomanufacturing in China and the global race for scale and speed
(00:15:00) - Meet Lisa Ressler, Chief Commercial Officer at Amyris
(00:19:00) - What Amyris produces and how it works with partners across the supply chain
(00:24:00) - Amyris’s return to B2B and what enterprise customers want after Chapter 11
(00:31:00) - How Amyris and Wacker collaborate from research through development
(00:37:00) - Proprietary molecules and how Amyris chooses which markets to pursue
(00:41:00) - Exploring Amyris’s molecule portfolio, from squalane to vaccines
(00:48:00) - The future of precision fermentation and quick-fire questio…
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189. Infinite Threads: Recycling Athleisure Waste with Samsara’s Vanessa Vongsouthi
10 juli 2026 · 49 min
Vanessa Vongsouthi, Research Founder and Head of Bioengineering at Samsara Eco, joins host Erum on the Grow Everything Podcast to discuss how engineered enzymes and AI are making it possible to recycle textiles and plastics repeatedly. Vanessa explains how Samsara uses AI-assisted protein design and ancestral sequence reconstruction to create enzymes that break down complex polymers, including Nylon 6,6, into their original chemical building blocks. Those materials can then be returned to existing supply chains and used to create virgin-equivalent products that are indistinguishable from materials made from petrochemicals. She also shares the story behind the world’s first enzymatically recycled Nylon 6,6 jacket, created in partnership with Lululemon, and explores how Samsara Eco was built through Main Sequence Ventures’ orchestration model alongside partners such as Woolworths and the Australian National University. The conversation also looks at what a future built around distributed, local recycling infrastructure could mean for designers, manufacturers, consumers, and the global circular economy. Lees meer
Grow Everything brings the bioeconomy to life. Hosts Karl Schmieder and Erum Azeez Khan share stories and interview the leaders and innovators changing the world through biology. Biology is the world’s oldest technology, and it can be engineered. So, what are we growing?
Learn more at www.messaginglab.com/groweverything
Chapters:
(00:00:00) - Intro: Heat waves, climate impacts, and the bioeconomy
(00:03:00) - Would Big Tech buy a pharmaceutical company?
(00:08:00) - Brewed human collagen: Gelatech x Hugel partnership
(00:10:00) - France bans fast fashion: Shein, Temu, and the Atacama Desert
(00:13:00) - Introducing Vanessa Vongsouthi of Samsara Eco
(00:17:00) - Biology as future industrial infrastructure
(00:22:00) - Programming enzymes with AI and ancestral sequence reconstruction
(00:29:00) …
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188. Which Came First: Chicken, Egg, or Medicine? Neion Bio Turns Evolution into a Precision Factory
3 juli 2026 · 1 uur 12 min
What happens when an evolutionary biologist and an aerospace engineer both arrive at the same conclusion — that the future of drug manufacturing isn't steel, it's biology? In this episode, Karl Schmieder and Erum Azeez Khan sit down with Sam Levin (Co-Founder & CTO) and Dimi Kellari (Co-Founder & CEO) of Neion Bio to unpack one of the most counterintuitive ideas in modern biomanufacturing: producing therapeutic medicines inside genetically engineered chicken eggs. Rather than optimizing the same mammalian cell culture systems that have defined biopharma for 50 years, Neion Bio's Raptor platform replaces complex steel bioreactor infrastructure with a self-replicating, two-input biological system — chicken feed and water in, life-saving medicines out. The conversation covers their stealth-to-commercial journey, a multi-product monoclonal antibody partnership announced alongside $11M in seed funding, the scalability and supply chain resilience advantages of egg-based manufacturing, how they navigate FDA regulation with a living bioreactor, and their North Star: dropping end-to-end production costs of monoclonal antibodies below $10 per gram — an order of magnitude that could fundamentally reshape who has access to biologics and where they're made. Lees meer
Grow Everything brings the bioeconomy to life. Hosts Karl Schmieder and Erum Azeez Khan share stories and interview the leaders and influencers changing the world by growing everything. Biology is the oldest technology. And it can be engineered. What are we growing?
Learn more at www.messaginglab.com/groweverything
Chapters:
(00:00:00) - Intro & 4th of July: America's 250th anniversary celebrations
(00:03:00) - America's Living Library Act & NDAA biotech provisions
(00:06:00) - Midjourney's ultrasonic body scanner & patient data ownership
(00:10:00) - NVIDIA's AI co-scientist, the AI value pyramid & AbbVie's $11B Apogee acquisition
(00:20:00) - Introdu…
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187. One Small Step for a Microbe: Lynn Rothschild’s Leap from Astrobiology to Bioengineering at NASA
26 juni 2026 · 1 uur 20 min
What does it actually take to keep humans alive on Mars? Not the SpaceX version — the biology version. Dr. Lynn Rothschild, research scientist at NASA Ames and adjunct professor at Brown and Stanford, has spent decades at the intersection of astrobiology and synthetic biology, and her answer is both elegant and radical: life itself is the technology. On this episode, Karl and Erum sit down with one of the scientists who helped build NASA's synthetic biology program to talk about on-demand drug manufacturing in space, growing habitats out of fungal mycelium, engineering bacteria to pull specific metals from e-waste, and the audacious "Hell Cell" project that aims to stack every survival superpower nature has ever evolved into a single organism. If you've ever wondered what it looks like when evolutionary biology meets aerospace engineering meets materials science — with a healthy dose of iGEM undergrads and Tetris metaphors — this one's for you. Lees meer
Grow Everything brings the bioeconomy to life. Hosts Karl Schmieder and Erum Azeez Khan share stories and interview the leaders and influencers changing the world by growing everything. Biology is the oldest technology. And it can be engineered. What are we growing?
Learn more at www.messaginglab.com/groweverything
Chapters:
(00:00:00) - NYC energy, the Knicks parade, and when does biotech get its ticker tape?
(00:04:00) - Peptides: biohacking goes mainstream, and why the back alley of your gym is not a pharmacy
(00:10:00) - Bemotrizinol: the first new active sunscreen ingredient cleared in the US in over 20 years
(00:14:30) - Listener shoutouts and a night with sci-fi legend Kim Stanley Robinson at Pioneer Works
(00:22:30) - SpaceX goes public at a $2.5 trillion valuation — what the space economy actually means
(00:26:00) - Why biology — not steel or solar — is the only real answer to the upmass problem
(00:35:00) - Lynn's origin story: from studyin…
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186. N.Y. Tech Week Live Demo: Engineering the Future of Manufacturing with Roebling's Brentan Alexander
18 juni 2026 · 40 min
Recorded live at New York Tech Week, Karl and Erum sit down with Brenton Alexander (CTO at Roebling) to unpack one of the biggest bottlenecks in scaling “biology as technology”: figuring out what it really takes to design and finance physical infrastructure. Brenton walks through how Roebling uses AI alongside deterministic engineering models (physics/thermodynamics) to accelerate early facility design, generate capex/opex estimates with uncertainty ranges (not false precision), and help teams run scenarios fast—so founders, investors, and operators can make better go/no-go decisions earlier, reduce wasteful iteration across siloed teams, and focus human expertise where it matters most. Lees meer
Grow Everything brings the bioeconomy to life. Hosts Karl Schmieder and Erum Azeez Khan share stories and interview the leaders and influencers changing the world by growing everything. Biology is the oldest technology. And it can be engineered. What are we growing?
Learn more at www.messaginglab.com/groweverything
Chapters:
(00:00:00) Welcome to Grow Everything Live at NY Tech Week
(00:02:10) The “infrastructure gap”: why feasibility work is slow and expensive
(00:03:05) What Roebling does: accelerating the path from R&D to final investment decision
(00:05:05) Live demo setup: building a yeast-based fermentation facility for a red bio-dye
(00:07:15) What the platform decides (and why inputs matter): equipment, DSP, and cost drivers
(00:10:00) “Why not just use Claude?” Deterministic models + AI tooling for defensible results
(00:14:30) Handling uncertainty: ranges, distributions, and Monte Carlo-style scenario runs
(00:18:40) What changes for engineers/consultants: shifting effort from manual work to judgment
(00:23:10) Reading the outputs: capex/opex, IRR, and the “tornado chart” of uncertainty drivers
(00:28:10) Audience Q&A: logistics/customer delivery, AI’s impact on costs, review fatigue, and assump…
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185. Brick Happens: Chris Maurer of Redhouse Studio Redesigns Remote Living for Earth and Mars
12 juni 2026 · 1 uur 19 min
What if the building you live in could be grown instead of built, feed people while it goes up, and lock away carbon for a century? Architect Chris Maurer of Red House Architecture and MycoHab joins Karl and Erum to explain how he turns 12 tons of invasive bush into mushrooms that feed a community and mycelium blocks that test stronger than concrete. He breaks down the now famous sledgehammer test, why a ductile living material survives the earthquakes that shatter cinder block, and the counterintuitive truth that more mycelium does not make a stronger brick. Then things get cosmic. Chris walks through his NASA backed work growing habitats that pack down tight, fly to Mars, and unfold to grow their own radiation shielding from algae and fungi, plus the Biocycler that eats the toxins out of old houses and turns that waste into something safe. If you care about biomaterials, regenerative design, and the business models that could actually build us out of the climate crisis, this conversation will rewire how you see the walls around you. Lees meer
Grow Everything brings the bioeconomy to life. Hosts Karl Schmieder and Erum Azeez Khan share stories and interview the leaders and influencers changing the world by growing everything. Biology is the oldest technology. And it can be engineered. What are we growing?
Learn more at www.messaginglab.com/groweverything
Chapters:
(00:00:00) Cold open and the first trillion dollar biotech
(00:06:05) Robling's live demo: an AI process engineer for biomanufacturing
(00:07:50) The Longevity Global Summit and the business of living longer
(00:15:05) A warming planet is unleashing flesh eating microbes
(00:18:35) Meet Chris Maurer: architecture that grows, decays, and feeds people
(00:20:05) What Africa taught him about regenerative architecture
(00:27:05) Building MycoHab with MIT and Standard Bank
(00:32:25) The sledgehammer test: ductile mycelium versus brittle concr…
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184. The Multiverse of Microbes: Henry Lee on Building Cultivarium and Training with Titans
5 juni 2026 · 1 uur 14 min
Most of biotech runs on a tiny handful of "model" organisms — E. coli, baker's yeast — while millions of wild species sit unstudied in what scientists call microbial dark matter. In this episode, Karl and Erum sit down with Henry Lee, co-founder of Cultivarium, to explore why the future of synthetic biology depends on learning to grow, study, and engineer the organisms we've ignored. Henry breaks down the real difference between model and non-model organisms, why simply culturing a new microbe can take years, and how Cultivarium is standardizing growth recipes and building an open digital platform so any researcher can work with strains that were once impossible to handle. Along the way: a fistulated cow, a spectacular failure that ultimately cracked the genetics of cement-making bacteria, extreme microbes that could free fermentation from fresh water, and Cultivarium's evolution from a Focused Research Organization into a "Frontier Research Contractor." The conversation closes on the state of American science — funding, public trust, and AI — plus the America's Living Library Act and a quick-fire round on archaea, overused buzzwords, and whether we're alone in the universe. Before the interview, Karl and Erum spill some biotech tea on "Biotech Barbie" Cathy Tie and unpack what the video game Stray gets right about engineered microbes escaping into the wild. Lees meer
Grow Everything brings the bioeconomy to life. Hosts Karl Schmieder and Erum Azeez Khan share stories and interview the leaders and influencers changing the world by growing everything. Biology is the oldest technology. And it can be engineered. What are we growing?
Learn more at www.messaginglab.com/groweverything
Chapters:
(00:00:00) — Summer vibes & a little biotech gossip: meet "Biotech Barbie"
(00:07:42) — What a video game about a lost cat teaches us about runaway microbes
(00:12:38) — How Henry went from building circuits to falling …
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183. The American Biotech Blueprint: Senator Todd Young on Biodiversity as National Security
29 mei 2026 · 42 min
Senator Todd Young joins the Grow Everything podcast to discuss the critical intersection of biotechnology and national security, sharing how his military background, Indiana roots, and role as chairman of the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology shaped his understanding of the bioeconomy as a strategic imperative. From DARPA's shelf-stable powdered blood to the America's Living Library Act — a first-of-its-kind effort to sequence the DNA of flora and fauna across US national parks — Senator Young lays out a compelling vision for distributed biomanufacturing, AI-powered biological discovery, and why the US must act now in what he calls a generational tech competition with China. Karl and Erum also recap highlights from Suppliers Day hosted by the New York Society of Cosmetic Chemists, including biotech-forward exhibitors like Probiotical, Origins by Ocean, Geltor, and the unveiling of BioAtlas — the first open source map of industrial biotech. Lees meer
Grow Everything brings the bioeconomy to life. Hosts Karl Schmieder and Erum Azeez Khan share stories and interview the leaders and influencers changing the world by growing everything. Biology is the oldest technology. And it can be engineered. What are we growing?
Learn more at www.messaginglab.com/groweverything
Chapters:
(00:00:00) - Suppliers Day Recap: Biotech Innovations in Beauty & Personal Care
(00:07:00) - BioAtlas: The First Open Source Map of Industrial Biotech
(00:09:00) - Setting Up the Interview with Senator Todd Young
(00:12:00) - How a Marine Turned Senator Became a Biotech Champion
(00:16:00) - Why Biology Is Reshaping National Security in the 21st Century
(00:20:00) - America's Living Library Act: Sequencing Our National Parks
(00:24:00) - Unlocking New Industries from Spider Silk to Bioluminescent Peaches
(00:27:00) - The Biggest Barriers Preventing Biotech from Reaching Scale
(00:31:00) - A Vision for Distribut…
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182. SynBioBeta 2026 Recap, It's Biologist Approved
22 mei 2026 · 54 min
Karl and Erum are back from SynBio Beta 2026 in San Jose, and they brought home an Impact Award. In this special recap episode, they break down the biggest moments from the conference: Neon's audacious plan to engineer chicken eggs as bioreactors, P&G's push into bio ceramides with their Native brand, Twist Bioscience's expansion from DNA synthesis into proteins, and Anthropic's deepening footprint in pharma through its acquisition of Coefficient Bio and partnership with Eli Lilly. Lees meer
They cover panels on the dark proteome, engineered longevity, bio-based colors replacing synthetic dyes, programmable nutrition, and the future of alternative meat, plus a standing-room-only session on bio-literacy featuring Drew Endy. Along the way, they share stories from the hallways, highlight emerging founders in DNA data storage and space biotech, recap Chef Pierre Thiam's fonio-fueled dinner, and reflect on why strengthening relationships across the bioeconomy matters more than ever.
Grow Everything brings the bioeconomy to life. Hosts Karl Schmieder and Erum Azeez Khan share stories and interview the leaders and influencers changing the world by growing everything. Biology is the oldest technology. And it can be engineered. What are we growing?
Learn more at www.messaginglab.com/groweverything
Chapters:
(00:00:00) - Grow Everything Wins the SynBio Beta 2026 Impact Award
(00:04:30) - Conference Highlights, Listener Meetups & Walking the Exhibit Hall
(00:08:15) - Cellular Intelligence, BioBrain AI & Neon's Chicken Egg Bioreactor
(00:13:00) - P&G's Bio Ceramides, Twist Bioscience & the Everyday Bio Panel
(00:19:30) - Engineered Longevity: Gene Therapy, Matter Bio & Measuring Aging
(00:22:30) - AI Meets Pharma: Anthropic, Eli Lilly's Tune Lab & Startup Alliances
(00:29:00) - Bruce Friedrich on the Future of Alternative Meat
(00:32:00) - Programming Nutrition: When Snacking Meets Medicine
(00:36:15) - Bio-L…
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181. Can Hue Believe It? Gerit Tolborg’s Quest for Pure Color at Chromologics
15 mei 2026 · 51 min
Gerit Tolborg, CEO and co-founder of Chromologics, joins Karl and Erum to explore how filamentous fungi can replace synthetic and plant-extracted food dyes with a fermentation-derived red pigment called Tellurin. Gerit shares how a PhD discovery in Denmark led to a venture-backed startup producing a tasteless, odorless, and highly vibrant natural color that performs across processed food categories, from cured meats to bakery to dairy. The conversation covers the real economics of bio-based colorants (including the critical concept of cost-in-use versus kilo price), the challenges of scaling downstream processing from a two-liter reactor to industrial CMOs, and how regulatory pathways at the FDA and EU's FSA are evolving to accommodate fermentation-derived ingredients. Gerit also makes a compelling case for fermentation as a tool for decentralizing and de-risking global supply chains, freeing agricultural land from color crop production and building resilience against climate and geopolitical disruption. Lees meer
Grow Everything brings the bioeconomy to life. Hosts Karl Schmieder and Erum Azeez Khan share stories and interview the leaders and influencers changing the world by growing everything. Biology is the oldest technology. And it can be engineered. What are we growing?
Learn more at www.messaginglab.com/groweverything
Chapters:
(00:00:00) - Science News: A Sulfur Exoplanet and What It Means for Extremophile Life
(00:03:45) - Is Biotech Winter Over? New IPOs and the Industrial Biotech Outlook
(00:08:45) - Introducing Gerit Tolborg and the Chromologics Origin Story
(00:10:15) - Discovering Novel Fungal Pigments During a PhD in Denmark
(00:13:15) - How Fermentation Produces a Tasteless, Odorless Red Pigment
(00:16:30) - Color Vibrancy, Purity, and Competing with Synthetic Dyes
(00:19:00) - Building a Mission-Driven Team in the Post-COVID Purpose Economy
(00:20:45) - Color as the Forgotten Ingred…
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180. Fungi in Full Color: Ricky Cassini Reimagines Dye at Michroma
8 mei 2026 · 49 min
Ricky Cassini, CEO of Michroma and a former logistics professor turned biotech founder, breaks down why replacing synthetic food dyes is harder than it sounds—and why fermentation-based colorants can outperform both petrochemical dyes and many plant-based “natural” extracts. The conversation covers the core technical constraints that matter to food companies (thermal stability, pH stability, coloring power, flavor neutrality, and supply reliability), why fermentation behaves more like manufacturing than farming, and how regulatory shifts are accelerating demand for bio-based reds and whites (including titanium dioxide alternatives). For an audience following the future of materials and biomanufacturing, this episode is a practical look at how industrial fermentation can modernize a legacy supply chain while meeting performance and consumer expectations. Lees meer
Grow Everything brings the bioeconomy to life. Hosts Karl Schmieder and Erum Azeez Khan share stories and interview the leaders and influencers changing the world by growing everything. Biology is the oldest technology. And it can be engineered. What are we growing?
Learn more at www.messaginglab.com/groweverything
Chapters:
(00:00:00) Cold open: “Are we eating printing ink?” + beverage innovation
(00:06:55) Conference mode + introducing Ricky Cassini (Michroma)
(00:11:05) How a strategy consultant became a fungal pigments CEO
(00:14:10) Pigment vs dye: soluble vs dispersed (coffee analogies)
(00:16:05) The “food contradiction”: healthy intent, petrochemical reality
(00:18:40) Why plant-based reds struggle (cost, stability, supply chain)
(00:22:35) Pricing confusion: cost per kilo vs cost-in-use (paint analogy)
(00:26:05) What colors Michroma is starting with (red, yellow/orange, white)
(00:28:05) Performance specs that matter: heat, pH, light, flavor, reliability
(00:30:05) Labeling: “Red 40 / Yellow 5” vs natural naming + how novel ferm…
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179. D.C. Climate Week LIVE: The Road to Remake Everything
1 mei 2026 · 58 min
Recorded live during DC Climate Week, the Grow Everything team sits down with investors Veronica Breckenridge, Jillian Chase, and Michael Luciani to unpack the real state of the US bioeconomy race with China, why fermentation and scale-up capacity are a persistent bottleneck, and how policy, non-dilutive funding, and better founder execution can close the gap. The panel argues that the US still leads in innovation, AI, and robotics, but needs faster, clearer regulatory pathways and smarter go-to-market strategy, including focusing on high-margin “profit pools” first, designing for manufacturability and downstream processing, and building consumer demand through clearer storytelling about health and product benefits. Lees meer
Grow Everything brings the bioeconomy to life. Hosts Karl Schmieder and Erum Azeez Khan share stories and interview the leaders and influencers changing the world by growing everything. Biology is the oldest technology. And it can be engineered. What are we growing?
Learn more at www.messaginglab.com/groweverything
Chapters:
(00:00:00) Live from DC Climate Week: intro and panelist lineup
(00:06:00) US vs China: how real is the biomanufacturing gap
(00:12:00) Policy signals: DOD, DARPA, and non-dilutive funding
(00:18:00) Biggest bottleneck: fermentation infrastructure and scale-up capacity
(00:24:00) The “graveyard” lessons: downstream costs and manufacturability
(00:30:00) Go-to-market strategy: profit pools vs TAM, and unit economics
(00:36:00) Consumer storytelling: health, microplastics, and demand creation
(00:42:00) AI + robotics: how they change the bioeconomy race
(00:48:00) What unlocks US biomanufacturing: regulation and faster pathways
(00:54:00) What to watch next: RNA, peptides, and proof of profitable companies
Links and Resources:
D.C. Climate Week
Graveyard Report
NSCEB
SynBioBeta Pass - Discount code: Grow Everything
Topics Covered:
bioeconomy, biomanu…
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178. Pretty in Pigments: Jesse Adler Colors the Future with Pitri
24 april 2026 · 1 uur 2 min
Karl and Erum talk with Jesse Adler, founder of Pitri, about why color is not just aesthetic, but chemical, biological, and deeply tied to human and environmental health. Jesse traces their path from biomolecular science and biodesign into building fungal pigments that can replace synthetic and animal-derived colorants, starting with the beauty industry as a high-margin, ingredient-driven entry point. Lees meer
The conversation explores how consumer expectations and industrial infrastructure were built around petrochemical dyes, why biological materials are often unfairly judged against synthetics, and what it takes to create drop-in, high-performing pigments from living systems. Along the way, Jesse reframes color as a functional feature in nature, shares early experimentation stories, and points to future opportunities like multifunctional pigments and the “holy grail” of opaque white.
Grow Everything brings the bioeconomy to life. Hosts Karl Schmieder and Erum Azeez Khan share stories and interview the leaders and influencers changing the world by growing everything. Biology is the oldest technology. And it can be engineered. What are we growing?
Learn more at www.messaginglab.com/groweverything
Chapters:
(00:00:00) Spring in Brooklyn, the BioD series, and why nature’s colors feel “high definition”
(00:02:55) The Allbirds “AI pivot” and what meme-stock dynamics look like in real time
(00:04:55) A major biotech IPO and the rise of in-licensing drugs from China
(00:10:10) Spain’s investment into Boston biotech and signals of a thawing biotech winter
(00:12:35) Introducing Jesse Adler and Petri: fungi-grown pigments for beauty
(00:15:05) Jesse’s origin story: biomolecular science, creative making, and discovering biodesign
(00:18:05) A “molecular worldview”: how materials constantly interact with our bodies and environments
(00:20:20) The history of synthetic dyes and the hidden costs of “best avai…
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177. Dye Another Day (REPLAY): The New Way to Color Textiles with Colorifix's Orr Yarkoni
17 april 2026 · 1 uur 3 min
In this replay episode of Grow Everything, Karl and Erum catch up after recent travel, reflect on a standout mainstream biotech article about biology reshaping the global chemical industry, and discuss why “tissue-on-a-chip” experiments in space matter for long-duration missions. They then kick off a deeper dive into bio-based dyes by revisiting their interview with Orr Yarkoni, co-founder and CEO of Colorifix, who explains how engineered microbes can both produce and directly deposit pigment onto textiles to dramatically reduce toxic chemistry, water use, and energy demand compared to conventional dyeing. The conversation covers why black and high-performance reds remain the hardest colors to replace, how Colorifix approaches scale-up through distributed on-site fermentation hardware, and what it takes to meet the real-world fastness and safety standards that brands and mills require. Lees meer
Grow Everything brings the bioeconomy to life. Hosts Karl Schmieder and Erum Azeez Khan share stories and interview the leaders and influencers changing the world by growing everything. Biology is the oldest technology. And it can be engineered. What are we growing?
Learn more at www.messaginglab.com/groweverything
Chapters:
(00:00:00) Travel catch-up and what the hosts have been thinking about lately
(00:05:30) Mainstream biotech gets it right: biology as “Mother Nature’s R&D lab” for the chemical industry
(00:07:15) Artemis and why deep-space biology experiments matter
(00:08:40) Project Hail Mary and communicating across radically different biology
(00:12:55) Why this season is focusing on bio dyes, and why textiles are a key wedge industry
(00:16:55) Interview begins: Orr’s background and the pivot from arsenic biosensing to dyeing
(00:20:15) How conventional textile dyeing works, and why it is so chemically and water intensive
(00:24:10) What Colorifix does differently: microbes that make dye and fix it…
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176. Dare to Commercialize: Damien Perriman’s eXoZymes Playbook
10 april 2026 · 46 min
Damien Perriman, Chief Commercial Officer of eXoZymes and the commercial lead behind the NCTx spinout, breaks down why cell-free biomanufacturing changes the rules for scaling nature’s rare molecules. Damien explains why the team spun NCTX out as a separate commercial vehicle, what it means to successfully transfer a process to a partner manufacturer (including a milestone Cayman validation), and why NCT (n-trans-caffeoyl tyramine), a trace compound found in peppercorns and hemp seed husks, has drawn so much attention as the only known agonist of HNF4A, a metabolic “switch” tied to mitochondrial function. Lees meer
The conversation also covers the logic behind launching first in supplements, how to build credibility in a crowded category through safety and product consistency, how regulatory timelines shape strategy, and why industrial biotech needs to move from platform-first stories to molecule-led business cases that match real market demand.
Grow Everything brings the bioeconomy to life. Hosts Karl Schmieder and Erum Azeez Khan share stories and interview the leaders and influencers changing the world by growing everything. Biology is the oldest technology. And it can be engineered. What are we growing?
Learn more at www.messaginglab.com/groweverything
Chapters:
(00:00:00) Welcome, introductions, and why tech transfer matters
(00:02:10) Why eXoZymes spun out NCTX to commercialize faster
(00:03:30) Cayman scale-up milestone: 99% conversion and 99.6% purity
(00:05:20) What the Cayman validation proves for product delivery and partners
(00:08:10) Why launch NCT in supplements first, and what GRAS enables
(00:10:00) Building credibility in supplements: safety, purity, and consistency
(00:12:05) What HNF4A is, and why NCT is the only known agonist
(00:14:30) What’s next: more human use studies, dose regimens, and GLP-1 adjacencies
(00:16:00) NCT vs GLP-1s: “metabolic restoration” and where it might…
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175. Seaweed Is the New Oil: Mari Granström Builds Origin by Ocean
3 april 2026 · 48 min
Mari Granstrom, founder and “chief executive activist” of Origin By Ocean, joins the Grow Everything podcast to explain how massive seaweed blooms, driven by nutrient pollution and eutrophication, can become a regenerative feedstock for bio-based and biodegradable chemicals. Mari shares how a career in industrial biochemistry, plus years of scuba diving and growing up near the polluted Baltic Sea, shaped their mission to transform invasive sargassum into high-performance ingredients that can replace many oil-derived inputs in everyday products. The conversation covers the scale of the sargassum problem across the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, how Origin By Ocean processes seaweed into “white powders” customers can use in cosmetics and nutraceuticals, and why the future of climate entrepreneurship needs diversity, integrity, and business models that restore ecosystems instead of extracting from them. Lees meer
Grow Everything brings the bioeconomy to life. Hosts Karl Schmieder and Erum Azeez Khan share stories and interview the leaders and influencers changing the world by growing everything. Biology is the oldest technology. And it can be engineered. What are we growing?
Learn more at www.messaginglab.com/groweverything
Chapters:
(00:00:00) Seaweed is the oil we never used
(00:01:00) Karl’s Hidden Brain live show story + talking to strangers
(00:03:00) Spring break travel + staying plugged into biotech
(00:04:05) Pfizer Oscars ad: what “breakthrough” messaging gets right
(00:08:15) Echo Biotech + NYC’s biotech network, from biomaterials to investing
(00:11:10) Meet Mari Granstrom and Origin By Ocean (how they met at Climate Week)
(00:14:00) Mari’s path: biochemical expertise inside big chemical companies
(00:16:25) Eutrophication 101 + spotting seaweed blooms as future biomass
(00:19:20) The sargassum crisis: 40–60M tons/year in the Caribbean + Gulf
(00:21:00) Is this just a Gulf issue? Baltic Sea v…
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174. From Beer to Billions: Kevin Wenger Scales Microbes at Lallemand
27 maart 2026 · 56 min
Kevin Wegner, VP of R&D at Lallemand, joins Karl and Erum to share three decades of wisdom from the frontlines of industrial fermentation. From his gateway into the industry through homebrewing beer to leading global teams that deliver high-value microbial products at billion-gallon scale, Kevin reveals why a 1% improvement in ethanol yield translates to massive economic value, how his team engineered yeast strains that produce both enzymes and ethanol simultaneously, and why scaling from large to even larger bioreactors requires solving genetic and environmental puzzles simultaneously. The conversation explores Lallemand's century-long evolution from baker's yeast to cutting-edge synthetic biology, the untapped potential of xylose and complex sugars for expanding biomanufacturing feedstocks, and Kevin's vision for anaerobic fermentation, digital twins of cells, and biodegradable materials with perfectly tuned lifecycles. Whether you're fascinated by the microbial diversity hiding in America's public lands, curious about why sour beer yeast is a game-changer for Brooklyn craft brewers, or wondering how fermentation could revolutionize water treatment and replace single-use plastics, this episode unpacks the science, strategy, and scale needed to grow everything. Lees meer
Grow Everything brings the bioeconomy to life. Hosts Karl Schmieder and Erum Azeez Khan share stories and interview the leaders and influencers changing the world by growing everything. Biology is the oldest technology. And it can be engineered. What are we growing?
Learn more at www.messaginglab.com/groweverything
Chapters:
(00:00:00) - Flux capacitor, compost heat, and New York City garbage as fuel
(00:03:10) - AI regulation and “synthetic beings”
(00:06:00) - Shoutouts and recent hangs (Paul Shapiro, Superorganism, The Wooly)
(00:09:40) - Longevity + a sauna networking event
(00:13:30) - Advanced Biotech for Sustainability report + int…
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173. They Put the Ore in Organisms: Liz Dennett’s Microbial Mining at Endolith
20 maart 2026 · 51 min
What if the oldest miners on Earth weren't humans at all—but microbes that have been extracting metals for billions of years? In this episode, Karl and Erum sit down with Liz Dennett, founder and CEO of Endolith, who's deploying extremophile microbial communities to unlock up to 1.9x more copper from existing mine heaps at industrial mining sites across the US. Liz shares her journey from growing up in resource-rich Alaska to pioneering bio-leaching technology that's tackling a critical challenge: we need more copper between now and 2050 than humanity has produced in its entire history—and every data center, EV, and AI query depends on it. But here's what makes this conversation different: Liz isn't trying to disrupt mining, she's working with it, bringing "purple-haired PhD energy" to one of the world's most conservative industries through safety-first culture, collaboration over competition, and under-promising, over-delivering results. This episode reveals why biology might be our best tool for responsible resource stewardship and what it really takes to bring breakthrough biotechnology into legacy industrial systems—plus, the copper oxidation series on Liz's nails. Lees meer
Grow Everything brings the bioeconomy to life. Hosts Karl Schmieder and Erum Azeez Khan share stories and interview the leaders and influencers changing the world by growing everything. Biology is the oldest technology. And it can be engineered. What are we growing?
Learn more at www.messaginglab.com/groweverything
Chapters:
(00:00:00) - Welcome to the Show: Microbes, Mining, and the Copper Crisis
(00:01:53) - The PowerPoint-Google Slides Software Saga
(00:03:47) - Meeting Clients In Person: Building Deeper Connections
(00:05:05) - Erum's Panel Experience and the HairDAO Moment
(00:06:56) - Mining, Microbes, and Copper in the Human Body
(00:08:59) - Why Copper Matters for AI and Electrification
(00:11:00) - Introducing Liz Dennett:…
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172. Generating Needles in Haystacks: Elise de Reus Designs Proteins with Cradle
13 maart 2026 · 50 min
Protein engineering has traditionally been slow, expensive, and stuck in trial-and-error mode—but AI is changing everything. In this episode, we sit down with Elise De Reus, co-founder of Cradle Bio, to explore how generative AI is revolutionizing the way scientists design proteins for medicines, enzymes, and sustainable materials. Elise shares her journey from studying fungi and building high-throughput strain engineering systems at companies like Zymergen and Perfect Day, to creating an AI-powered platform that helps R&D teams generate better protein variants in less time and at lower cost. We discuss the massive design space of proteins, the role of machine learning in navigating that complexity, how Cradle balances computational predictions with biological reality, and what it will take for the bioeconomy to reach its trillion-dollar potential. Whether you're in pharma, industrial biotech, or just curious about the future of biology as a design problem, this conversation offers a fascinating look at how AI is becoming an essential tool for engineering the building blocks of life. Lees meer
Grow Everything brings the bioeconomy to life. Hosts Karl Schmieder and Erum Azeez Khan share stories and interview the leaders and influencers changing the world by growing everything. Biology is the oldest technology. And it can be engineered. What are we growing?
Learn more at www.messaginglab.com/groweverything
Chapters:
(00:00:00) - The AI Revolution Meets Biology
(00:01:00) - Why Erum Switched from ChatGPT to Claude (And What It Means for AI)
(00:03:00) - Lab-Grown Meat Just Got Real: The Breakthrough That Changes Everything
(00:06:00) - The Roadmap to a Trillion-Dollar Bioeconomy: Inside the AB4S Report
(00:08:00) - Proteins 101: The Molecular Machines Running Your Life
(00:10:00) - From Studying Fungi to Building AI Tools: Elise De Reus's Origin Story
(00:12:00) - Inside Cradle Bio: The AI Studio Transforming…
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171. Nature’s Balance Sheet: Kevin Webb Invests in Biodiversity with Superorganism
6 maart 2026 · 58 min
Kevin Webb, Managing Director of Superorganism, joins Erum and Karl to discuss why biodiversity is the next frontier for venture capital. After 15 years backing SaaS unicorns and marketplaces, Kevin made a radical pivot to launch a $25M fund focused exclusively on biodiversity-driven startups. In this conversation, Kevin breaks down why nature has been catastrophically undervalued in our economic systems, how his fund identifies venture-scale opportunities in everything from invasive species leather to AI-powered ecosystem monitoring, and why measuring biodiversity is infinitely harder than tracking carbon emissions. He shares portfolio highlights including companies turning Burmese pythons into luxury goods, explains why sea otters would make ideal board members, and reveals the cultural, technological, and regulatory shifts that could transform biodiversity from a conservation concern into a mainstream asset class within the next decade. This episode is essential listening for founders, investors, and anyone interested in the intersection of nature, technology, and capital. Lees meer
Grow Everything brings the bioeconomy to life. Hosts Karl Schmieder and Erum Azeez Khan share stories and interview the leaders and influencers changing the world by growing everything. Biology is the oldest technology. And it can be engineered. What are we growing?
Learn more at www.messaginglab.com/groweverything
Chapters:
(00:00:00) - Nature as Undervalued Infrastructure
(00:01:00) - AI, Intelligence Premium, and Economic Disruption
(00:05:00) - Animation, Uploaded Intelligence, and Biotech Narratives
(00:09:00) - Color, Bio-Dyes, and Experiencing the World
(00:12:00) - Kevin Webb's Journey from SaaS to Biodiversity VC
(00:17:00) - Why Biodiversity Is Harder to Quantify Than Carbon
(00:21:00) - Superorganism's Investment Thesis and Portfolio
(00:26:00) - Invasive Species as Business Opportunity: Python Leather
(00:32:00) …
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170. There's a Bug for That: Sophia Xu on CarbonBridge's Notebook Bioreactors
27 februari 2026 · 45 min
Sophia Xu, cofounder of Carbon Bridge, joins us to discuss how her company is revolutionizing gas fermentation with notebook-sized modular bioreactors that convert waste gases into valuable fuels and chemicals. From rejecting medical school to focus on climate biotech, to developing reactors 80% more energy efficient than traditional methods, Sophia shares how Carbon Bridge's platform enables wild-type methanotrophs to perform 500% better than genetically modified microbes. The conversation explores distributed manufacturing, the company's vision for an "app store" of microbial pathways, partnerships with Norwegian Cruise Lines, and why Sophia believes biology—not electrification—is key to decarbonizing heavy industry. We discuss deployment scenarios from dairy farms to breweries, the misconceptions about gas fermentation, and how Carbon Bridge is creating a new business model by selling bioreactors rather than end products. Lees meer
Grow Everything brings the bioeconomy to life. Hosts Karl Schmieder and Erum Azeez Khan share stories and interview the leaders and influencers changing the world by growing everything. Biology is the oldest technology. And it can be engineered. What are we growing?
Learn more at www.messaginglab.com/groweverything
Chapters:
(00:00:00) - Sophia's Journey from Cancer Research to Climate Biotech
(00:03:18) - AI in Biomanufacturing
(00:06:00) - From Nanotechnology to Waste Gas Conversion
(00:09:00) - Sophia's Path: Why Climate Over Medical School
(00:11:00) - Biology as an Industrial Platform
(00:11:48) - Visualizing Carbon Bridge: MacBook-Sized Bioreactors
(00:14:00) - Navigating Unpredictability in Biological Systems
(00:16:43) - Methanotrophs: The Wild-Type Microbes Behind the Tech
(00:17:00) - Scaling by Stacking: From Lab to 80X Scale
(00:18:00) - Sustainability Meets Economics: No Green Premium Required
(00:21:00) - Performance Numbers: 80% More Efficient, 500% Better Than…
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169. AI, Antivenom, and Antibodies: Previewing SynbioBeta with John Cumbers
20 februari 2026 · 1 uur 15 min
John Cumbers returns to the Grow Everything podcast for his fourth appearance to discuss the cutting edge of synthetic biology and the upcoming SynBioBeta 2026 conference. From a man who's been bitten by snakes over 200 times to create universal anti-venom, to the race between the US and China in bio-manufacturing, John reveals why the bioeconomy is reaching an inflection point. We explore how AI is transforming organism design, the $50 million deals being struck for AI models in pharma, and why Chinese bio-manufacturing firms are achieving profitability while Western companies struggle. John also shares his vision for cellular reprogramming and longevity, discusses the controversial rollback of US environmental policy, and explains why the "ChatGPT moment" for biology is closer than we think. Plus, learn about stem cell tissue banks that could revolutionize replacement therapy and why SynBioBeta 2030 will actually happen on the moon. Lees meer
Grow Everything brings the bioeconomy to life. Hosts Karl Schmieder and Erum Azeez Khan share stories and interview the leaders and influencers changing the world by growing everything. Biology is the oldest technology. And it can be engineered. What are we growing?
Learn more at www.messaginglab.com/groweverything
Chapters:
(00:00:00) - Welcome Back: John Cumbers' Fourth Appearance on Grow Everything
(00:01:00) - Death Becomes Her: Longevity on Broadway
(00:03:00) - Listening Bars and Ambient Music Experience
(00:04:00) - The Peptide Revolution: From Gray Market to Mainstream
(00:07:00) - Trump Administration Revokes Clean Air Act: Impact on Biotech
(00:12:00) - Biomanufacturing as Economic Development and Climate Solution
(00:13:00) - AI, Space, and Solar Energy: Elon Musk at World Economic Forum
(00:16:00) - Data Centers in Space: The Future of Energy
(00:18:00) - Introducing John Cumbers and SynBioBeta 2026
(00:19:00) - The Man Bitten by 200+ Snakes: Universal Anti…
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168. Biomanufacturing 101: Rebuilding the Modern World with Biology
13 februari 2026 · 57 min
Karl and Erum break down how biology is transforming the production of everything from cosmetics to construction materials. They explore why the petrochemical era is giving way to biological manufacturing, examining both the spectacular failures of early biofuels and the emerging success stories of companies like K18 and Mango Materials. Karl and Erum explain the fundamentals of fermentation, precision fermentation, and cell-free manufacturing, while introducing concepts like distributed biomanufacturing and "dirty biology." Drawing on insights from previous guests including Doug Friedman, Michelle Stansfield, Veronica Breckenridge, and Phil Morle, they reveal why 95% of executives are now pursuing bio-solutions and how three converging forces—falling technology costs, rising consumer expectations, and new infrastructure—are making this the moment for biomanufacturing to finally deliver on its promise. Lees meer
Grow Everything brings the bioeconomy to life. Hosts Karl Schmieder and Erum Azeez Khan share stories and interview the leaders and influencers changing the world by growing everything. Biology is the oldest technology. And it can be engineered. What are we growing?
Learn more at www.messaginglab.com/groweverything
Chapters:
(00:00:00) - Why AI might just become our CEO (plus haircuts, Pilates, and gene therapy for hearing loss)
(00:02:05) - Eli Lilly's $1B gene therapy deal for hearing loss
(00:05:00) - Long Now podcast recommendation and NASA astrobiologist Lynn Rothschild
(00:07:00) - Discussion of Apple TV's Scion and Drops of God
(00:11:00) - What is biomanufacturing and why does it matter?
(00:13:00) - The history of petrochemicals as "green technology"
(00:16:00) - The opportunity: removing gigatons of carbon and unlocking trillion-dollar markets
(00:19:00) - Types of biomanufacturing: fermentation, precision fermentation, and continuous fermentation
(00:22:00) - Cell-free manufacturing and plant …
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167. From Scrappy to Scalable: Daniel Scharff Grows Startup CPG
6 februari 2026 · 1 uur 15 min
Daniel Scharff, founder of Startup CPG, joins the Grow Everything podcast to share how he built the world's largest community for emerging consumer brands. With 35,000 members in their Slack channel and over 75 in-person events annually, Startup CPG is democratizing access to retail buyers, investors, and industry resources that would typically cost founders thousands in consulting fees. Daniel discusses the harsh realities of CPG entrepreneurship—including why only 20-25% of brands survive beyond a few years—and shares his playbook for success: prioritize great branding and taste over health claims, build scrappy and resourceful, and delay fundraising until you can command a meaningful valuation. He reveals patterns he's observed across thousands of brands, from the danger of copycat products in oversaturated categories (looking at you, chili crisps and prebiotic sodas) to the power of in-person connections for discovering innovation. Daniel also explains why Startup CPG operates on a "do good, do well" model, offering free resources to brands while building a sustainable business through sponsorships and events—and why he believes this approach could transform other industries beyond CPG. Lees meer
Grow Everything brings the bioeconomy to life. Hosts Karl Schmieder and Erum Azeez Khan share stories and interview the leaders and influencers changing the world by growing everything. Biology is the oldest technology. And it can be engineered. What are we growing?
Learn more at www.messaginglab.com/groweverything
Chapters:
(00:00:00) - Fancy Weekends, Le Bernardin, and the Met
(00:03:00) - Drops of God Season 2 and Art at the Met
(00:06:00) - Automatic Noodle Book Discussion
(00:09:00) - Claude Bot and AI Tools for Content Creation
(00:13:00) - Introducing Daniel Scharff and Startup CPG
(00:16:00) - Daniel's Journey from Mars to Just Egg to Startup CPG
(00:21:00) - Building the World's Largest CPG Community
(00:27:00…
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166. The Great Reformulation: Joshua Lachter Rethinks How We Make Everything at Scale
30 januari 2026 · 1 uur 10 min
Joshua Lachter, co-founder of Synonym, joins us for an in-depth conversation about the future of biomanufacturing and what he calls "the great reformulation." We explore how biology is poised to replace petrochemicals across industries, the infrastructure challenges holding back commercial scale production, and why standardization is critical for mass adoption. Joshua shares insights from Synonym's work building commercial biomanufacturing facilities, including their groundbreaking project in Decatur, Illinois. From GLP-1s to microplastics, we discuss how bio-based products can deliver superior performance while addressing health and environmental concerns. This episode is essential listening for anyone interested in the commercialization of industrial biotech, the economics of biomanufacturing, and the path toward a reformulated supply chain built on biology. Lees meer
(00:00:00) - Snowstorm updates from NYC
(00:03:00) - Tech Meets Pharma: The Data Revolution
(00:09:00) - Mr. Beast, Upside Foods, and Colossal Biosciences
(00:14:00) - Joshua's Background and Why He Founded Synonym
(00:18:00) - Financialization and Standardization of Biomanufacturing
(00:25:00) - Early Assumptions That Turned Out Wrong
(00:38:00) - The Great Reformulation: Biology vs. Petrochemicals
(00:48:00) - GLP-1s and Nature-Inspired Innovation
(00:54:00) - Better with Bio: Synonym's Partnership with Brentag
(00:59:00) - Quickfire Questions
(01:03:00) - Wrap-Up & Final Thoughts
Episode Links:
Synonym
BetterWith.Bio
The Great Reformulation
Primient and Synonym Forge Strategic Partnership to Propel U.S. Bioproduct Innovation
NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani Snowstorm Prep Video
Mr. Beast video: $1 vs $1,000,000,000 Futuristic Tech!
Edward Shenderovich ep
Amy Trejo and JC Garcia Garcia ep
Suveen K18 ep
Grow Everything brings the bioeconomy to life. Hosts Karl Schmieder and Erum Azeez Khan share stories and interview the leaders and influencers changing the world by growing everything. Biology …
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165. Biology Behind the Brands: Inside P&G’s Two-Century Story
23 januari 2026 · 1 uur 2 min
Karl and Erum sit down with Amy Trejo and Jose Carlos Garcia Garcia from Procter & Gamble to uncover how one of the world's largest consumer goods companies is leveraging biotechnology to innovate at unprecedented scale. Founded 189 years ago as a bio-waste upcycling partnership between a candle maker and a soap maker, P&G has always been rooted in biomaterials innovation—from pioneering laundry enzymes in the 1960s to developing cold water enzyme technologies that have saved billions in energy costs. Amy and JC reveal what makes biotech innovations stick in the marketplace (hint: it's all about performance), share candid advice for startups hoping to partner with P&G, and explain why the company views biotech as a critical enabler of both sustainability and superior consumer experiences. They discuss common misconceptions about working with large CPG companies, the importance of reducing ideas to practice, and how P&G's connect-and-develop model creates win-win partnerships that can impact billions of consumers worldwide. Whether you're a biotech founder, investor, or enthusiast curious about how innovative materials make it from lab to everyday products, this conversation offers rare insights into the intersection of consumer goods, biotechnology, and global scale manufacturing. Lees meer
Grow Everything brings the bioeconomy to life. Hosts Karl Schmieder and Erum Azeez Khan share stories and interview the leaders and influencers changing the world by growing everything. Biology is the oldest technology. And it can be engineered. What are we growing?
Learn more at www.messaginglab.com/groweverything
Chapters:
(00:00:00) - Introduction and Opening Remarks
(00:01:00) - Erum's Article on Industrial Biomanufacturing for Lichen Ventures
(00:04:00) - The Vision of Boom Towns and Interplanetary Innovation
(00:07:00) - Introduction to Amy Trejo and JC Garcia Garcia from P&G
(00:11:00) - Amy and JC's Backgrounds and Roles at P…
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164. From Plasmids to Pallets: How Erin Marasco Scales Biology at Cargill
16 januari 2026 · 1 uur 9 min
We kick off our CPG series with Dr. Erin Marasco, Senior Director of Global Biology at Cargill, who leads innovation in ingredient discovery, strain development, and biotech applications. Erin takes us on a fascinating journey from the fundamentals of fermentation to the complexities of scaling biotech products from lab bench to global supply chains. We explore Cargill's 30-year history in biomanufacturing, discuss why terms like "precision fermentation" might be doing more harm than good, and learn what it really takes for startups to partner with multinational companies. Erin shares insights on feedstock diversity across continents, the future of nutritional bioactives in everyday foods, and why success in biotech means moving from "novel" to "preferred." This conversation is essential listening for anyone interested in how biology is quietly transforming every aisle of the grocery store. Lees meer
Grow Everything brings the bioeconomy to life. Hosts Karl Schmieder and Erum Azeez Khan share stories and interview the leaders and influencers changing the world by growing everything. Biology is the oldest technology. And it can be engineered. What are we growing?
Learn more at www.messaginglab.com/groweverything
Chapters:
(00:00:00) - Introduction & New Year Kickoff — Welcome to 2026 and the start of our CPG series!
(00:01:00) - JP Morgan Conference & South Africa Travel
(00:05:00) - New Food Pyramid Controversy
(00:10:00) - Introducing Erin Marasco & Cargill's Role in Biotech
(00:17:00) - Where Biotech Creates Real Leverage at Cargill
(00:21:00) - Demystifying Fermentation: Why Now?
(00:26:00) - How Cargill Partners with Startups
(00:30:00) - Biggest Misconceptions About Working with Big Companies
(00:33:00) - What Product Readiness Means to Cargill
(00:38:00) - Plasmids to Pallets: Successful Partnership Examples
(00:47:00) - Feedstock Diversity Across Continents
(00:53:00) - The Future: Nutrition as Everyday Food…
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163. Consulting the Crystal Ball of Biology: Karl & Erum's 2026 Predictions
9 januari 2026 · 52 min
Karl and Erum kick off 2026 by reviewing their 2025 forecasts—celebrating the wins (DeSci's rise, waste as a resource, AI-biology convergence) and acknowledging the misses (no biotech M&A boom, no quantum biology breakthrough yet). Then they unveil their boldest predictions for the year ahead: the first functional AI-composed genome entering production, a major non-sterile biomanufacturing facility breaking ground, biological arbitrage creating competitive advantages against tariffs, consumer-held health records surpassing traditional medical data in clinical significance, space-manufactured drug crystals entering human trials, definitive proof of alien life, and AI-enabled communication with whales and other animals. They also welcome Lizette Couto, who joins the podcast to provide science definitions and explanations throughout episodes going forward. From dirty biology manifestos to peptide proliferation to interspecies communication, this episode maps the frontiers where synthetic biology, AI, space technology, and consumer adoption collide. Lees meer
Grow Everything brings the bioeconomy to life. Hosts Karl Schmieder and Erum Azeez Khan share stories and interview the leaders and influencers changing the world by growing everything. Biology is the oldest technology. And it can be engineered. What are we growing?
Learn more at www.messaginglab.com/groweverything
Chapters:
(00:00:00) - 🎙️ Welcome to 2026: The Year Biology Gets Real
(00:01:00) - Introducing Lizette Couto: Science Definitions and Podcast Updates
(00:03:00) - 2025 Predictions Review: Using AI to Analyze Episodes
(00:04:00) - What We Got Wrong: H5N1, Quantum Biology, and M&A Activity
(00:10:00) - What We Got Right: DeSci's Rise and the BIO Token
(00:12:00) - Waste as a High Value Resource: Agricultural to Urban Applications
(00:14:00) - Onshoring and Government Funding: A Crushing Year for Science
(00:18:00) - AI and Biology Convergence: From Reading to C…
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162. New Year’s Replay with New Insights: Orchestrating BioInnovation Without Missing a Beat
2 januari 2026 · 40 min
Karl and Erum kick off 2026 with deep reflections on prosperity, consciousness, and the idea that we might be living in a simulation. But the real focus is on a concept that could make or break biotech companies: orchestration. They dive into why most biotech innovations outside of pharma struggle to commercialize and introduce the idea of value chain syndication—bringing together innovators, manufacturers, investors, and big incumbents to create entire ecosystems rather than just individual deals. Using examples like K18 Hair's marketing orchestration and the urgent need to replace Red Dye 40, they break down how founders can architect strategic "seed deals" that build toward transformative industry shifts. This isn't about traditional sales or business development—it's about becoming the center of an ecosystem that includes everyone from ingredient suppliers to end customers. With tailwinds from geopolitical changes, supply chain concerns, and increasing demand for bio-based solutions, the time for orchestration is now. Whether you're a founder trying to scale or a big company looking to innovate, this episode shows you how to think bigger than your own company and build the infrastructure for a bio-based future. Lees meer
Grow Everything brings the bioeconomy to life. Hosts Karl Schmieder and Erum Azeez Khan share stories and interview the leaders and influencers changing the world by growing everything. Biology is the oldest technology. And it can be engineered. What are we growing?
Learn more at www.messaginglab.com/groweverything
Chapters:
(00:00:00) - Welcome and New Year reflections from California and Cape Town
(00:01:00) - Prosperity, money circulation, and building a better society
(00:04:23) - Consciousness, simulation theory, and the philosophy of everything
(00:09:00) - Why we're replaying the orchestration episode
(00:10:00) - What is orchestration and why it's not just sales or business development
(00:15:00) - Why…
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161. (Holiday Replay) Leaf It to Science: How Foray Bioscience's Ashley Beckwith is Reforesting the Future
26 december 2025 · 52 min
In this special holiday replay episode, we revisit our conversation with Ashley Beckwith, founder of Foray Biosciences, who shares her groundbreaking work in plant cell culture and tissue engineering. Growing up in Colorado, Ashley watched forests disappear to housing development and wildfire—experiences that sparked her lifelong mission to reimagine how we produce plant materials. After training as an engineer and working in medical device development, she pivoted to apply tissue engineering concepts to plants, initially exploring lab-grown wood before discovering a more fundamental problem: the lack of accessible, efficient plant cell culture processes. Today, Foray develops fabricated seeds for forest restoration, creates harvest-free plant products, and builds AI-powered tools to accelerate plant science R&D. Ashley explains why plant cells are the fundamental building blocks for everything from molecules to materials to entire ecosystems, and how her company is working to solve the seed shortage crisis that prevents us from restoring 94% of post-wildfire sites. She also discusses the potential for de-extinction of recently lost plant species in California and the importance of creating regenerative rather than extractive relationships with plant systems. This conversation explores the intersection of synthetic biology, forestry, and biomanufacturing while reminding us that we are all, whether we know it or not, plant people. Lees meer
Grow Everything brings the bioeconomy to life. Hosts Karl Schmieder and Erum Azeez Khan share stories and interview the leaders and influencers changing the world by growing everything. Biology is the oldest technology. And it can be engineered. What are we growing?
Learn more at www.messaginglab.com/groweverything
Chapters:
(00:00:00) - Holiday Greetings and Stranger Things on Broadway
(00:04:41) - Introducing Ashley Beckwith and Foray Biosciences
(00:07:17) - Growing Up in Colorado: Watching Forest…
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160. Sequins Without Sin: Santa Puts Cellsense's Aradhita Parasrampuria on the Nice List
19 december 2025 · 49 min
In this episode, Karl and Erum speak with Aradhita Parasrampuria, founder of CellSense, about revolutionizing the fashion embellishment industry through biology. Aradhita shares her journey from witnessing toxic dye masters in Gujarat textile factories to creating biodegradable sequins, beads, and buttons using algae and bacterial cellulose. She explains how her materials can be produced at room temperature, glow in the dark through bioluminescence, and are manufactured through an automated system that eliminates exploitative manual labor. With one in five garments containing embellishments, CellSense addresses a massive market while tackling microplastic pollution, worker health issues, and the 2027 EU ban on microbeads and lead. Aradhita discusses successful pilots with fashion brands and skincare companies, the challenges of achieving vivid colors and iridescence with biomaterials, and her vision for a circular system where anyone can upload a design and receive custom bioplastic solutions. The conversation explores the intersection of design, biotechnology, and sustainability, demonstrating how biology can create materials that don't just replace plastics—they surpass them. Lees meer
Grow Everything brings the bioeconomy to life. Hosts Karl Schmieder and Erum Azeez Khan share stories and interview the leaders and influencers changing the world by growing everything. Biology is the oldest technology. And it can be engineered. What are we growing?
Learn more at www.messaginglab.com/groweverything
Chapters:
(00:00:00) - Introduction: Fungi as environmental game-changers
(00:26:18) - Podcast updates and Michael Levin episode highlights
(02:10:35) - Ashley Beckwith and Foray Biosciences: mining fungal biodiversity
(04:57:22) - The untapped power of mycelium in biotechnology
(08:04:15) - Launching the Future is Fungi Award
(08:58:40) - Susanne Gløersen: Why fungi deserve to be core technology
(00:12:09) - Fungi's role in so…
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159. The Future Is Fungi Awards: From Mushroom Dreams to Real-World Things
12 december 2025 · 1 uur 10 min
Karl and Erum explore the untapped potential of fungi through three groundbreaking interviews. First, they speak with Susanne Gloersen, founder of the Future is Fungi Award, about why fungi represent the next frontier in biotech and how her global platform is accelerating fungal innovation across industries—from soil remediation to firefighting foam. Next, they sit down with Ricky Cassini of Michroma, winner of the Future is Fungi Award, who explains how his team engineers fungi to produce natural food colorants that outperform synthetic dyes and plant-based alternatives, offering 50x more potency than traditional options while being heat and pH stable. Finally, they interview Dr. Britta Winterberg of Mycolever, runner-up of the award, who discusses how her company uses fungal biodiversity to create sustainable bio-compounds for cosmetics, including emulsifiers and enhanced beauty oils that replace petrochemicals without compromising performance. Throughout the episode, the hosts highlight recent developments like MIT researchers using fungal compounds to treat brain cancer, FDA's phase-out of synthetic dyes, and the growing shift toward bio-based ingredients in food, cosmetics, and beyond. Lees meer
Grow Everything brings the bioeconomy to life. Hosts Karl Schmieder and Erum Azeez Khan share stories and interview the leaders and influencers changing the world by growing everything. Biology is the oldest technology. And it can be engineered. What are we growing?
Learn more at www.messaginglab.com/groweverything
Chapters:
(00:00:00) - Introduction: Fungi as environmental game-changers
(00:26:18) - Podcast updates and Michael Levin episode highlights
(02:10:35) - Ashley Beckwith and Foray Biosciences: mining fungal biodiversity
(04:57:22) - The untapped power of mycelium in biotechnology
(08:04:15) - Launching the Future is Fungi Award
(08:58:40) - Susanne Gløersen: Why fungi deserve to be core technology
(00:12:09) - Fungi's…
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158. Mycelium On, Sound Off: How GOB's Lauryn Menard Makes Biomaterials Feel Like Culture
5 december 2025 · 59 min
Lauryn Menard, co-founder of Gob, joins us to discuss how she's tackling the 40 billion petroleum-based earplugs produced annually by creating the first biodegradable, mycelium-based alternative. Named one of Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies of 2025 and featured in Time Magazine's Best Inventions, Lauryn shares her journey from industrial designer to biotech entrepreneur. She explains why she chose mycelium over other biomaterials, how she scaled production without building a factory from scratch, and her strategy for bringing sustainable products to mainstream consumers through cultural relevance—partnering with artists like Billie Eilish and Chappell Roan at major music venues. Lauryn also reveals her vision for Gob's future: replacing an entire category of single-use products, from cotton pads to condoms, with materials that return to the earth. This conversation explores the intersection of design, biomaterials, entrepreneurship, and the urgent need for better infrastructure to support a regenerative economy. Lees meer
Grow Everything brings the bioeconomy to life. Hosts Karl Schmieder and Erum Azeez Khan share stories and interview the leaders and influencers changing the world by growing everything. Biology is the oldest technology. And it can be engineered. What are we growing?
Learn more at www.messaginglab.com/groweverything
Chapters:
(00:00:00) - Introduction: Lauryn's favorite subject - nature's zero waste system
(00:06:00) - Lauryn's journey from luxury design to founding Gob
(00:09:00) - The 40 billion earplug problem and material innovation
(00:11:00) - Beginning with the end in mind: designing for product end-of-life
(00:13:00) - Why mycelium? Finding the perfect material match
(00:17:00) - Scale and volume: why small products have massive impact
(00:22:00) - From concept to cylinder: the design process and user testing
(00:24:00) - Cultural relevance over sustainability marketing
(00:30:00) - Teachin…
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157. (Thanksgiving Replay) Meat the Future: How Paul Shapiro is Brewing Superfoods at Better Meat Co.
28 november 2025 · 1 uur 9 min
In this Thanksgiving replay, we revisit our conversation with Paul Shapiro, co-founder and CEO of Better Meat Co, who's pioneering the use of mycelium-based proteins as a sustainable alternative to animal meat. Paul shares his remarkable journey from starting an animal welfare organization in high school to becoming a biotech entrepreneur. He explains how fungi fermentation creates protein-rich, meat-like textures in less than 24 hours without the environmental toll of traditional agriculture. The episode explores the science behind mycoprotein, the challenges facing the alternative protein industry, the need for government investment in biomanufacturing, and why fungi may be the key to feeding both Earth and future space travelers. Paul also discusses Better Meat Co's recent $31 million Series A funding and their mission to make sustainable protein accessible at scale. Lees meer
Grow Everything brings the bioeconomy to life. Hosts Karl Schmieder and Erum Azeez Khan share stories and interview the leaders and influencers changing the world by growing everything. Biology is the oldest technology. And it can be engineered. What are we growing?
Learn more at www.messaginglab.com/groweverything
Chapters:
(00:00:00) - Could Fungi Replace Factory Farms Forever?
(00:01:00) - Welcome: TEDx MIT, Planetary Action & What's Growing
(00:03:00) - Intelligence Beyond Brains: Reflecting on Michael Levin
(00:06:00) - Thanksgiving Special: Gratitude for the Biotech Community
(00:10:00) - Meet Paul Shapiro: From Activist to Mycoprotein Pioneer
(00:13:00) - Origin Story: Fighting for Animals Led to Building Better Meat
(00:19:00) - Alt Protein 2.0: What's Changed Since the 2018 Hype Cycle
(00:24:00) - The Subsidy Problem: Why Meat Gets Billions & Clean Protein Gets Nothing
(00:31:00) - Mycoprotein 101: Why Fungi Beat Plants for Meat Texture
(00:38:00) - Engineering Neurospora: 24-Hour Fermentation at Scale
(00:43:00) - Designing Super Strain…
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156. When Matter Makes Decisions: Michael Levin on the Intelligence of Form
21 november 2025 · 1 uur 18 min
Join us for a mind-bending conversation with Professor Michael Levin, director of the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University, as he reveals how cells make decisions without brains, store memories without DNA, and navigate anatomical space like we navigate physical space. Discover how his team created two-headed immortal worms whose memory persists across regeneration cycles, how bioelectrical patterns control body shape independently of genetics, and why the future of medicine lies in communicating with the collective intelligence of our cells rather than micromanaging their molecular machinery. From xenobots made of frog cells to the anatomical compiler that will revolutionize regenerative medicine, this episode explores the frontier where developmental biology, cognition, and robotics converge to redefine what it means to be alive. Lees meer
Grow Everything brings the bioeconomy to life. Hosts Karl Schmieder and Erum Azeez Khan share stories and interview the leaders and influencers changing the world by growing everything. Biology is the oldest technology. And it can be engineered. What are we growing?
Learn more at www.messaginglab.com/groweverything
Chapters:
(00:00:00) – Welcome! Birthday Surprises and Setting the Stage
(00:03:05) - Upcoming TEDx Talk and iGEM Competition Winners
(00:05:14) - AI Book Recommendations and Octopus Intelligence
(00:06:20) - Introducing Xenobots and Professor Michael Levin
(00:09:43) - What Does Michael Levin Study? Developmental Biology Meets Cognition
(00:13:42) - Cells as Decision-Making Networks: Cognition Without Neurons
(00:19:43) - Inside the Lab: What Experiments Look Like
(00:22:03) - The Two-Headed Worm Experiment: Rewriting Bioelectric Memory
(00:38:15) - Xenobots and Mombot: Building Synthetic Living Machines
(00:47:35) - Ethics of Creating Life and Human Augmentation
(00:58:12) - The Future of Medicine: The Anatomical Compiler
(01:03:48) - Quick Fire Questions with Michae…