BluumBio develops bio-based products that use microbes and plants to remove toxic chemicals from the environment. Oil, mining, and other types of industrial companies use BluumBio's products to clean up and restore contaminated sites.

 
 

 

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Katherine French

Katherine French is the founder and CEO of BluumBio. She is passionate about developing new solutions to clean up the environment and bringing together multiple disciplines, from ecology to synthetic biology, to achieve this goal. She completed her bachelor’s at Boston University, her master’s and Ph.D. at the University of Oxford, as well as two postdocs at UC Berkeley and the Joint Bioenergy Institute.

 

TECHNOLOGY

 

Critical Need
Over 70 percent of the Earth’s surface is polluted from industrial activities like mining, oil extraction, and farming, and from waste produced by human societies. Climate change and natural disasters exacerbate the problem. In August 2021, Hurricane Ida damaged pipelines along the Louisiana coast, causing over 2,000 oil spills. These leaked chemicals harm wildlife, destroy ecosystems, and negatively impact human health. Although academic research has shown the promise of bioremediation—using bacteria, plants, and other organisms to “eat” toxic chemicals—few bio-based products are currently commercially available and readily deployable for large-scale clean-up efforts.

Technology Vision
Bioremediation relies on the natural ability of certain organisms to consume and/or accumulate certain chemicals. Organisms achieve this using enzymes: small, specialized proteins with pockets to which chemicals bind and are transformed. In some cases, these enzymes form a metabolic pathway where the substrate, like petroleum or pesticides, is reduced to carbon, which the organism then eats. BluumBio looks for these enzymes in nature, makes them work better and faster in the lab, then puts them back into native organisms already living on contaminated sites. 

Potential for Impact
Industrial pollution is one of the greatest unmet challenges we face as a society today. By harnessing the power of nature, BluumBio’s products will help clean up contaminated soil, water, and air. Removing toxic chemicals from the environment will benefit plants, animals, and humans that depend on natural resources to survive and thrive.


Website
BluumBio