[Disclosure: AgFunderNews’ parent company AgFunder is an investor in Alpine Bio]
Alpine Bio—a startup best-known for engineering soybeans to produce casein proteins—has extended the tech to produce lactoferrin with 3.5x more iron than bovine sources and developed an “insanely soluble” soy protein isolate from non-GMO soybeans.
Founded by Magi Richani in 2016, Alpine Bio initially focused on producing casein proteins in soybeans but has since broadened its platform to produce a range of recombinant proteins including lactoferrin, a bioactive iron-binding protein found in mammalian milk.
Lactoferrin with 70% iron saturation
While several startups are producing recombinant lactoferrin in microbes via precision fermentation, Alpine Bio’s version—produced in soybeans—“sets a new benchmark for native iron content,” claims Richani, a civil engineer who built a career at oil giant Shell before setting up her own business.
“While traditional bovine lactoferrin averages around 20% iron saturation, Alpine Bio’s native version reaches around 70%; roughly 3.5× higher.”
The firm can also produce an iron-depleted version with “antimicrobial activity comparable to bovine-derived lactoferrin in growth-inhibition contexts,” claimed Richani, who caught up with AgFunderNews at the recent MISTA growth hack event in San Francisco. “We have an easy way to remove the iron in the downstream process.”
While Alpine Bio can extract and purify the lactoferrin, which is pricey, there are also opportunities to create soymilks or other functional foods and beverages directly from the lactoferrin-expressing soybeans, she said. “If you don’t have to purify it, it becomes extremely affordable.
“We are currently in conversations with a few companies as it feels like everything now is about food is medicine.”
On the regulatory front, she said, the plan is to go through the GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) process.
Soy protein isolate with whey-like characteristics
Separately, Alpine Bio has developed a highly soluble non-GMO fractionated soy protein isolate (FSPI) with “whey-like characteristics” that can be dropped into beverages and other challenging applications and behave like an animal protein, claimed Richani.
While Alpine Bio’s core molecular farming platform involves genetically engineered soybeans, the FSPI is extracted from non-GMO soybean flour, she said.
“It’s neutral in flavor and uniquely soluble at high concentrations, enabling formulations without gums or stabilizers.”
The product emerged as something of a happy accident, said Richani. “We spent a couple years figuring out how to make plant proteins that we extract with the casein have better functionality and ended up developing a proprietary process to maximize the solubility of the plant proteins and remove a lot of the off flavors that come with them.
“And then once we had discovered that approach, we could use it to extract protein from [non-GMO] commodity soy flour and create a really functional neutral tasting soy protein. So that is now the third stream of our pipeline.
“We studied lots of different proteins in soy to understood their functionality, nutrition and flavor and then designed a process that specifically removes some of the proteins that bring off flavors or don’t have good functionality. We then developed a process that has an enzymatic component plus some tweaking to maximize solubility, and we’ve done it in a way that is still cost competitive as we’ve designed the process to fit into the current industry infrastructure and processing equipment.
“We are now in discussions with a few strategic partners that have the processing capabilities we need to maybe form a longer-term partnership.”
She added: “Part of the value in what we’re doing is removing most of the isoflavones, which is important for some markets where there is a lot of scrutiny on this front.”
20g protein in one serving
As for applications, she said, many firms want to use plant proteins but have found them challenging to work with in some applications, especially in beverages where brands are seeking to add ever higher quantities of protein.
“Our protein can open up the market for anyone who wants to create high protein, neutral tasting, functional products,” said Richani, who showcased a high-protein soymilk at the MISTA event (pictured above).
She added: “What’s nice about having more than one protein is when we go and talk to different potential customers, it just gives us more optionality.”
Speaking on stage at the event, Richani said: ”With our [soy protein isolate] you can just put it in water, and as you can see, it’s transparent, clear, and soluble, it’s heat stable, and it forms excellent foaming properties. We actually have data comparing this protein to whey protein isolate side by side, and we see extremely competitive behavior, and sometimes we see it performing better.
“We are able to create ultra-high-protein milks that give you 20g of protein in one 240ml serving without any gums, starches or flavor maskers.”
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