Onego Bio, a company producing animal-free egg protein via precision fermentation, has announced the launch of an expert series called The Power of Trichoderma reesei: Building the Future with Fungi.
The series aims to showcase the potential of Trichoderma reesei, the microbial platform behind Onego Bio’s Bioalbumen® egg protein. It will illustrate the platform’s scientific strengths, industrial scale, and practical performance across food manufacturing.
The first session is titled “Why Trichoderma reesei is Precision Fermentation’s Quiet Workhorse”, and takes place on December 18. It features Dr. Sharief Barends, Head of Research Leiden and Head of Fungal Genetics at IFF, along with Dr. Christopher Landowski, co-founder and Chief Technology Officer at Onego Bio.
The session will explore the research legacy, strengths, and industrial advantages of T. reesei, and how it compares to other microbial platforms used in precision fermentation. A white paper will then be published, providing further insights into the platform’s capabilities in protein manufacturing. Those interested in the session can sign up here.
“The platform at the heart of scalable protein innovation”
Three more sessions will follow:
- In January, Dr. Marshall Bredwell, Chief Operating Officer at Perfect Day and former process and manufacturing leader at Novozymes in the US and China, will join Onego Bio Head of Manufacturing Arni Kujala to focus on the advantages of the T. reesei platform in manufacturing and the scale-up of proteins and commodity ingredients.
- In February, Onego Chief Financial Officer Tom Ferguson will partner with an industry expert to discuss market economics and supply chain resiliency.
- In March, the series will be completed by a live cooking demonstration showcasing Bioalbumen®’s functionality, from whipping and binding to emulsification.
The news comes after Onego Bio announced plans to establish a flagship manufacturing facility in Jefferson County, Wisconsin, earlier this year. The company also recently received a No Questions letter from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regarding Bioalbumen®, meaning that the ingredient is Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) under its conditions of use in a wide range of food and beverage applications.
“This series is about shining a light on the platform at the heart of scalable protein innovation,” said Maija Itkonen, co-founder and CEO of Onego Bio. “Trichoderma reesei has quietly powered industries for decades, but its full potential in food is still underappreciated. We believe it’s one of the most efficient and underleveraged tools in the fermentation toolbox, and it’s time the world saw what it can do for food.”
