Biomanufacturing Reimagined

Harnessing synthetic protocells for sustainable, low-cost chemical production

Why Protocells?

Synthetic protocells mimic structures mimic structures that would have served as evolutionary precursors to cells. The simplified architecture and bottom-up construction of protocells provide tremendous flexibility in reaction pathways and processing conditions. Protocells bridge conventional cell and cell-free biocatalytic approaches while providing the advantages of both

Biomolecular (co)localization

Increased overall rates of multi-enzyme cascade reactions

Specialized environments

Provide increased enzyme stability and activity

Spontaneous Self-Assembly

Formed within milliseconds

Enhanced Processability

Robust body enables recycling and fast mixing

Applications

Pharmaceutical Precursors

Pharmaceutical key starting materials (KSMs) are the foundational chemical compounds used for the synthesis of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). Ensuring the quality and availability of KSMs is critical for a resilient pharmaceutical supply chain. Praio can enable facile and low-cost production of KSMs by leveraging out protocellular biomanufacturing platform

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Specialty Chemicals

Specialty chemicals like fragrances and food additives made using cell-free manufacturing by utilizing enzymes and biochemical pathways allows faster, controlled production without the complexity of maintaining live organisms. By reassembling required biosynthetic pathways within protocells, we improve the efficiency of multi-step enzymatic reactions and improve enzyme stability, thereby reducing overall operating costs.

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Sustainable Aviation Fuel

The aviation industry contributes two percent of global anthropogenic CO2 emissions and is challenging to decarbonize. There is an urgent need for drop-in sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), prompting the U.S. Department of Energy to launch the SAF Grand Challenge to boost production. However, conventional SAF production costs are two to four times higher than fossil-derived jet fuel. Praio aims to reduce these costs using protocells, facilitating SAF production.

Our Team

Advait Holkar
CEO and Founder

Advait received his PhD. from UCLA and baccalaureate from IIT Delhi, both in chemical engineering. His expertise lies in functional self-assembled materials, and Praio’s underlying technology was based on his PhD. research. Advait was an entreprenurial lead in the NSF I-Corps National Program, and is currently a fellow at Activate Berkeley

Samanvaya Srivastava
Scientific Advisor

Samanvaya is an Associate Professor at the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering department at UCLA. His lab’s focus lies on understanding effects of intermolecular interactions on material properties and designing functional materials. Praio’s underlying technology was developed in his lab, and he is the recipient of several awards, such as the AiCHE 35 under 35 and the NSF CAREER Award

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