2019
Research & Development
Genecis Team: Luna Yu, Hasitha de Alwis Weerasekera, Michael Williamson, Marcos Igreja headshot
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Genecis Team: Luna Yu, Hasitha de Alwis Weerasekera, Michael Williamson, Marcos Igreja

Polyhydroxyalkanoates  (PHAs) are polyesters produced in nature by microorganisms like bacteria.  For bacteria, PHAs serve as both a source of energy and as a carbon store. These plastics used on their own are incredibly biodegradable. When combined with the normal “live-forever” plastics derived from fossil-fuels, PHAs also makes the new co-polymer more degradable. The biggest obstacle to the wide-spread adoption of PHAs is cost. Luna and her brilliant Genecis team have created a revolutionary technology that significantly reduces this barrier: By using special recipes of highly efficient bacteria, the cost of production is reduced by over 40%.  Now scaling up!