Infant nutrition startup NAMUH partners with Ginkgo Bioworks to produce multiple infant nutrition products
Infant nutrition startup NAMUH and Ginkgo Bioworks, which is building a platform for cell programming and biosecurity, announced a multi-product collaboration to develop functional oligosaccharides that are structurally identical to those found in human breast milk.
NAMUH's mission is to create complete infant formula products substantially comparable to human breast milk, down to the molecular level. Human Milk Oligosaccharides (HMOs) are essential fiber-like nutrients unique to human milk that provide an important energy source to beneficial gut bacteria in infants. Despite being the third most abundant component in human milk, HMOs are currently a small component in infant formulas, if present at all.
Chaeyoung Shin, Founder and CEO, NAMUH: "Consumer demand for high quality, safe, infant nutrition products is growing, and NAMUH is thrilled to partner with Ginkgo to accelerate our market entry into this rapidly evolving category. We believe engineering biology is the perfect way to produce crucial nutrients for babies, and together with Ginkgo, we are excited to play a key role in improving how future generations are fed."
Currently, NAMUH's proprietary technology provides for a cost-effective source of a family of HMOs via yeast fermentation. Through this partnership, NAMUH will leverage Ginkgo's expertise in yeast strain engineering and fermentation process development to enable the production of various HMOs through yeast fermentation and work to unlock the possibility of making infant formula nutritionally robust and much closer to human breast milk.
Jason Kelly, CEO and Co-founder, Ginkgo Bioworks: "At Ginkgo, we seek out partners like NAMUH that are using biology to create category-leading products in legacy industries. Countless families around the world rely on infant formula every day, and we are thrilled to be working with NAMUH as they aim to create a healthier, safer formula that parents can depend on."
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