Deep Branch Bio's Peter Rowe Wants to Save the Planet

There is a tendency to think of biotech as focusing on medicine and drug development, but there are a number of companies using biotechnology to create solutions for environmental problems. One of those is Nottingham, UK-based Deep Branch Biotechnology.

Deep Branch was founded in July 2018 and is a graduate of the BioCity Accelerator Programme. This program offers 50,000-pound convertible loans, direct routes to raising investment, coaching, networking and virtual or physical tenancy in its facilities. BioCity recently made seed investments in Deep Branch, which will cover constructions costs of a mobile production unit that will allow the company to demonstrate its technology. Peter Rowe, Deep Branch’s co-founder and Commercial Lead, took time to speak with BioSpace about the company and where it’s headed.

Rowe and his fellow co-founder Rob Mansfield were named as part of Forbes’ European 30 Under 30 in Manufacturing and Industry in 2019. And Deep Branch Biotechnology has been named one of the world’s top 500 deep tech start-ups by Hello Tomorrow in October 2018 and top thirty 2019 cleantech companies by Cleantech Innovate.

Deep Branch Biotechnology, Rowe says, "transforms carbon dioxide into protein. The company was founded in July 2018 with the mission to transform the polluters of today into the polluters of tomorrow."

The technology can be used to help companies that want to reduce their carbon footprint without negatively impacting operational costs. Traditional carbon storage technology collects carbon dioxide, but Deep Branch’s approach is to convert it into sustainable protein. The technology doesn’t require sunlight or algae cultivation, and the modular system design makes it capable of capturing a portion or all of a company’s emissions that can be scaled up by adding additional modules.

The first sustainable protein product coming out of the company is Autotrofish, nutritionally tailored for aquaculture, making it a sustainable alternative to fishmeal. It is made from single cell protein generated from captured emissions. The company is also working on developing single cell protein for monogastrics—that is, animals with single-chambered stomachs, like humans, rats, dogs and pigs, cats, horses and rabbits—and ruminants, which have multi-chambered stomachs, such as cattle, antelopes, sheep and goats.

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