Homeworld Collective

Homeworld Collective’s first cohort of Garden Grantees have started to publish their findings across a spectrum of sustainable solutions. Check out some of their recent work as inspiration for an impactful week ahead! ▶️ A preprint from Ahmed Badran and team introduces a system to measure CO2 fixation by RuBisCO—the enzyme responsible for over 90% of global CO2 capture. This new genetically encoded approach overcomes previous limitations like toxicity, and slow enzyme activity, using specially engineered bacteria and biosensors — providing a platform for the evolution of RuBisCO enzymes with improved CO2 fixation abilities: https://lnkd.in/gTT4mbXG ▶️ A preprint from Pranam Chatterjee and team and team introduces “MetaLATTE”, a model that can rapidly screen and classify the metal-binding properties of input protein sequences. MetaLATTE could serve as a powerful tool enabling biomining and bioremediation tech by identifying proteins that can bind the metals that are needed for decarbonization and contaminate some environments: https://lnkd.in/gS9i6Q4b

These three funding opportunities could support your work in climate biotech 🔽 ▶️ Inflection is the first awards program dedicated to connecting the top PhDs, aged 30 or younger, with the highest-impact opportunities to advance their work on climate solutions: https://lnkd.in/ggFg9Vek ❗ Apply by December 1: https://lnkd.in/e_X54DR8 ▶️ The EQT Foundation’s Breakthrough Science Grants support research on innovative solutions aimed at reducing global methane emissions. If you are a scientist at an academic institution focused on addressing the critical climate challenge of methane, this one’s for you: https://lnkd.in/gygJyFvt  ❗ Apply for €25,000 to €100,000 by November 8: https://lnkd.in/e2tapqUy ▶️ The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Clean Energy Careers for All (CEC4A) Workforce Development Project provides a funding opportunity for non-profit 501(c)(3) or non-lobbying 501(c)(6) educational organizations conducting programming that promotes clean energy career development across all stages of STEM education and professional work: https://lnkd.in/ezRStJxx ❗ Apply for up to ~$300,000 by December 13: https://lnkd.in/gabq--_A

From trees as methane sinks to microbial extremophiles, explore cutting-edge research at the intersection of microbiology, ecosystem science, and climate technology with our latest blog posts — featuring recent interviews from The Climate Biotech Podcast: ▶️ "Unveiling the Role of Trees in Methane Removal" | Dr. Vincent Gauci speaks to new findings on how upland trees and their bark-dwelling microbes play a crucial role in methane removal. Discover the potential for using methanotroph-colonized woody surfaces to incorporate atmospheric methane removal into conservation, reforestation efforts, and commercial forestry, along with the challenges and open questions: https://lnkd.in/gsV2CFUu ▶️ "From Microbiome to Macrobiome: Exploring the Microbiology at the Frontiers" | Dr. Braden Tierney shares how he translated his background in human microbiome studies to exploring the practical applications of microbial survival in extreme environments, like oceans and outer space. Learn about a fast-growing cyanobacterium and its potential role in carbon capture and bioplastic production: https://lnkd.in/gZhnc2Jk Listen to the podcast episodes, linked in each blog post, to get the full story from these experts on how leveraging natural processes can help unlock innovative climate solutions.

❇️ Tomorrow, 10/16 ❇️ Don’t forget to register for Connecting Genetics to Climate’s webinar on the Landscape of Climate Biotech. Homeworld’s Founding Scientist & Co-Founder Paul Reginato will join bioeconomist Nazish Jeffery, Ph.D. to discuss the state and future outlook of #climatebiotech – come with questions! ➡️ See you there: https://lnkd.in/ePBkvKV9

Working in climate biotech? ✅ Check out these relevant reads from the past several weeks: ▶️ This Nature Portfolio article explores biotech applications in enhanced rock weathering, highlighting roles of specific biocatalysts such as carbonic anhydrase and siderophores: https://lnkd.in/ektUiMPR  ▶️ MOMBAK, a reforestation company working in the Amazon, has partnered with Google in a landmark deal where Google will purchase 50,000 tons of carbon removal credits by 2030, marking Google’s first involvement in a Brazilian reforestation project: https://lnkd.in/gcr4wT9G ▶️ Methane monooxygenase enzymes (MMOs) have potential utility for converting biogas to products as part of a circular carbon economy, but are notoriously difficult to use. In a step toward usable MMO, researchers designed miniature soluble MMO (sMMO), simplifying its protein structure and eliminating need for chaperone proteins in folding: https://lnkd.in/gnSMrVjY #climatebiotech #HomeworldCollective #carbonremoval #circulareconomy

Biotech offers unique adaptation and mitigation strategies to address climate change. ✅ But what’s the current state of climate biotech research? And what is the scientific rationale for why we think climate biotech can deliver? ⬆️ Homeworld’s Science Director & Co-Founder Paul Reginato will join bioeconomist Nazish Jeffery, Ph.D. of the Federation of American Scientists to discuss “The Landscape of Climate Biotech” with Connecting Genetics to Climate's Co-Director, Leonor Sierra. Tune into this in-depth, interactive webinar on Wednesday, Oct. 16 at 1 PM ET/10 AM PT to hear the panelists’ experiences, share your own expertise & feedback, and ask questions! Register for free: https://lnkd.in/ePBkvKV9

🦠 The climate biotech job market is growing. ⤵️ Research Associate/Senior Research Associate – Biocatalysis/Enzymology @ Cascade Bio (Denver, CO): https://lnkd.in/esWFsh-C  ▶️ Cascade Bio is dedicated to advancing sustainable chemical manufacturing through enzyme-based processes. Protein Biochemist, Core Technologies @ Arcadia Science (Berkeley, CA): https://lnkd.in/ghd9-rid  ▶️ The Arcadia Science team needs help creatively and iteratively implementing scientific tools to solve biological research problems, with a particular focus on predicting and testing protein functions. Microfluidics Engineer @ REEgen (Ithaca, NY): https://lnkd.in/gWZuJ3BM ▶️ REEgen uses bacteria to cleanly extract and purify rare earth elements (REE) from recycled and waste materials. 🌱 Check out more open job listings on the Climate Biotech Jobs Board: jobs.homeworld.bio

🎧 Need a good weekend listen? Queue up the latest episode of “EBRC in Translation,” featuring our co-founders, Daniel Goodwin & Paul Reginato:  https://lnkd.in/ghig2V2d The conversation covers Homeworld Collective’s origin story, our grants program for research in areas like greenhouse gas removal, the challenges that climate biotech still faces — and how we approach them with action-oriented optimism. 🌱 Thank you to hosts Heidi Klumpe & Andrew Hunt and everyone at Engineering Biology Research Consortium for having us on! #greenhousegasremoval #GHGremoval #climatebiotech #biotech #climatetech  #HomeworldCollective #founderstory

This team is exploring how much enzymes could impact the cost and energy of DAC, and modeling the process designs and enzyme performance benchmarks that enable the greatest benefit.🔽 Currently, DAC technologies face high costs due to the energy required to regenerate CO2 from capture materials. Carbonic anhydrase (CA) enzymes, which naturally catalyze CO2 exchange, have the potential to reduce these costs by enabling faster CO2 absorption with less energy. However, no thorough analysis has yet been done to understand how much benefit CA enzymes could provide or the specific conditions the enzymes would need to tolerate. To address this, Mijndert Van der Spek and team at the Research Centre for Carbon Solutions at Heriot-Watt University are conducting a techno-economic analysis to investigate the energy performance, process conditions, and cost implications of CA-enhanced DAC. Their research will provide key insights into the potential of CA enzymes to improve DAC, guiding future engineering efforts to optimize the technology for large-scale CO2 removal. Learn more about their project: https://lnkd.in/gJG98vFp  Learn more about their project: https://lnkd.in/gJG98vFp 🪴 Earlier this year, we funded 16 teams via our inaugural Garden Grants program that directly supports early stage climate biotech research. To celebrate, we’re highlighting the incredible biotechnologists in our first cohort (like Mijndert Van der Spek  🔼)! Stay tuned for more features here, and in the meantime, meet other members of the first Garden Grants cohort: https://lnkd.in/g4-jZaRy #granteespotlight #grantprogram #directaircapture #DAC #CO2removal #carbonremoval #climatebiotech #climatetech #HomeworldCollective

🌊 At its best, ocean iron fertilization (OIF) may provide a cost-effective and elegant way to draw down carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by enhancing the ocean’s natural biological carbon pump. But key questions remain: How effective is it really, and can it be done without harmful ecological impacts? Here are three reads for you with those questions in mind 🔽 ➡️ OIF was the first-studied method of marine carbon dioxide removal (CDR), but research has been on pause for years: https://lnkd.in/gMtXjbcB ➡️ OIF now is back in the spotlight as researchers from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and elsewhere are urging further research and have identified critical next steps for assessing its feasibility: https://lnkd.in/ga736c2a ➡️ Ocean Visions recently published a commentary on OIF: https://lnkd.in/gqVM9w5Z #decarbonization #carbonremoval #CO2removal #carbondioxideremoval #CDR #climatesolutions #climatebiotech #HomeworldCollective